A life-size statue of Thomas Jefferson drafting the Declaration of Independence has been shipped to the White House after clearing off-site security screening, according to the sculptor and donor.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A new life-size bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson has been shipped to the White House as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, according to the sculptor and the filmmaker who arranged the donation.
Colorado sculptor George Lundeen, 77, and filmmaker Steven C. Barber told the New York Post that the statue cleared off-site security screening this week. The creators valued the seated bronze at $150,000.
The White House has not confirmed where the statue will be placed, and no unveiling was scheduled for the Fourth of July weekend. The piece is expected to become part of President Donald Trump’s Founding Father display and related “walk of fame” additions around the White House grounds.
Lundeen told the Post he shipped the statue east this week and said Trump wants it placed in the Rose Garden. The statue would join a bronze of George Washington installed there last fall and would be near the West Wing Colonnade, where Trump has displayed portraits of past presidents, except Joe Biden, whose space is occupied by a photograph of an auto-pen.
The sculpture shows Jefferson seated at a portable writing desk of his own design while drafting the Declaration of Independence. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776, an anniversary being marked during America’s 250th celebrations.
Barber, who coordinated the donation, called the statue “fabulous.”
“He’s going to put it in the frigging Rose Garden!” Barber told the Post.
Barber has previously worked with Lundeen on other public monuments, including an Apollo 11 monument at the Kennedy Space Center and the “Defiance” statue of Trump now standing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The Rose Garden already includes Founding Father statues that Trump showed reporters in late February, shortly after ordering coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets. The statue additions have been part of a broader redesign of the area, where grass was replaced with a stone patio and a “Presidential Walk of Fame” was installed along the nearby colonnade.
Lundeen created the original seated Jefferson bronze 25 years ago. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a version of the statue at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Monticello, Florida, on July 2, 2025. That installation was the first in a series of Founding Father statues placed in Florida counties named for founders as part of the state’s America250FL campaign.
Lundeen also sculpted the West Palm Beach “Defiance” bronze of Trump, which depicts the president raising his fist after the July 2024 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Jefferson, the third president and principal author of the Declaration of Independence, died July 4, 1826, at age 83. He lived in the White House during his two presidential terms and made changes to the residence, including replacing an outdoor privy with two indoor water closets, building a wine cellar west of the residence and installing a call system for servants, according to the White House Historical Association.
The new statue’s arrival ties Jefferson’s role in drafting the Declaration to the White House’s current anniversary displays, though officials have not publicly announced its final location or installation date.
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