Putti - Gardener to Printer
The figures on the staircase are known as “putti” and represent the various occupations, habits, and pursuits of contemporary American life at the time when the Jefferson Building was built in the late nineteenth century.
A putto (plural putti) is a figure of a pudgy human baby, almost always male, often naked and having wings, found especially in Italian Renaissance art.
• A Gardener, with spade and rake
• An Entomologist, with a specimen box slung over his shoulder, running to catch a butterfly in his net
• A Student, with a book in his hand and a mortar board on his head
• A Printer, with types, a press, and a type case