on him the title Premier Architecte de Sa Majestée Impériale. For the Hôtel Grimod de La Reynière, built in Paris in 1775, Clérisseau and Étienne de La Vallée Poussin executed the first decorative scheme in Europe to be inspired by the recent archaeological discoveries at Pompeii and Herculanum. A set of eight painted boiseries depicting sixteen scenes from the life of Achilles were sold in 1850 and are now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 1785, Clérisseau was retained by Thomas Jefferson to produce designs for the Virginia State Capitol, based on the Maison Carrée, the ancient Roman temple in Nîmes. At the time, Jefferson was residing in Paris, serving as American Minister to France. Jefferson wrote that "it was a considerable time before I could find an architect whose taste had been formed on a study of ancient models of this art; the style of architecture in this capital [Paris] being far from chaste." Clérisseau, he noted, "has studied 20 years in Rome, and has given proofs of his skill and taste by a publication of some antiquities of this country." Jefferson was referring to the first (and only) volume in Clérisseau's intended series Antiquités de la France, published in Paris in 1788 with the subtitle Monumens de Nismes. The folio included detailed engravings of the Maison Carrée, which Jefferson praised as "one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful and precious morsel of architecture left us by antiquity." "Clérisseau's role in designing the Capitol has been much debated. Fiske Kimball argues persuasively that the building is essentially Jefferson's and that Clérisseau was merely a consultant." Clérisseau in museums and exhibitions Clérisseau created works on paper using a variety of media, often in combination, including pencil, chalk, ink, watercolor, and gouache. Many of his works were reproduced as etchings by engravers including Domenico Cunego (the series Views of Antique Buildings and Famous Ruins in Italy), Francesco Bartolozzi, Francesco Zucchi and Paolo Santini. In his lifetime, Clérisseau exhibited works at the Paris Salon in 1773, 1775, 1883, and 1808. The largest cache of Clérisseau's work is in the collection of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. An exhibition of these works was presented in 1995 at the Louvre in Paris, and in 1996 at the Hermitage; an illustrated catalogue with notes and essays was published in 1995 in Paris by Editions de la