This pencil drawing by French painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard was completed circa 1778. Fragonard completed the drawing while Benjamin Franklin was serving as a United States envoy in France. Franklin was a renowned author, inventor, and philosopher who was also one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The Franklin figure is seated and wearing Roman-style robes and a laurel wreath, with female figures surrounding him. Male figures, in similar classical attire, fight before him. The sketch was made quickly while Franklin was visiting the Louvre. From the drawing, an etching and aquatint were created by Jean-Honoré Fragonard's sister-in-law Marguerite Gérard. This was the first major acquisition by the White House Fine Arts Committee during the John F. Kennedy administration. Bates Littlehales photographed the drawing in March 1962, also during the Kennedy administration.

This elevation of the south view of the White House was drawn by architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe circa 1817. Thomas Jefferson commissioned Latrobe to make various architectural changes to the Executive Mansion. Latrobe envisioned the addition of porticos on the north and south sides of the building, changes that original White House architect James Hoban later implemented. Latrobe is best known as the architect who designed the Capitol Building, St. John's Church and the Decatur House in Lafayette Square, the White House colonnades and Madison state rooms, and was the chief engineer for the U.S. Navy.

This color illustration of the east view of the White House by Benjamin Henry Latrobe shows the building with North and South Porticoes that were not present on the original structure. Although Latrobe's drawings date from before the 1814 fire, the actual porticoes that were added during the rebuilding were designed by James Hoban.