On Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:19:23 -0400, Walter Waddell <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>From what I have learned of the Founding Fathers, I would suggest, ever so
mildly, that they had no inclination
>that their work would lead to the public funding of either the "un-useful"
arts or the preservation of "un-needed"
>buildings.



The great care and expense that went into the creation of Virginia's
architecturally groundbreaking (no pun intended) State Capitol, as well as
the resources devoted to commissioning for it a sculpture of George
Washington from Jean-Antoine Houdon, understood to be Europe's greatest
portrait sculptor, suggests that the Founders' definitions of both "useful
arts" and public expenditures properly applied to buildings was broad indeed.

-- Jurretta Heckscher

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