Robert Edward Lee (sculpture)
|
Robert Edward Lee
|
|
The sculpture in January 2006
|
|
 
|
|
| Location | Emancipation Park (Charlottesville, Virginia), bounded by Market, Jefferson, 1st and 2nd streets, Northeast |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 38°1′54″N 78°28′50″W / 38.03167°N 78.48056°WCoordinates: 38°1′54″N 78°28′50″W / 38.03167°N 78.48056°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1924 |
| Architect | Henry Shrady; Leo Lentelli |
| Architectural style | bronze sculpture |
| MPS | Four Monumental Figurative Outdoor Sculptures in Charlottesville MPS |
| NRHP reference # | 97000447 |
| VLR # | 104-0264 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 16, 1997 |
| Designated VLR | June 19, 1996 |
The Robert Edward Lee is an outdoor bronze equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee and his horse Traveller. Commissioned in 1917 and dedicated in 1924, it is located in Charlottesville, Virginia's Emancipation Park (formerly Lee Park) in the Charlottesville and Albemarle County Courthouse Historic District. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
In 1917 Paul Goodloe McIntire commissioned the statue from the artist Henry Shrady (1871–1922). It was the second of four works he commissioned from members of the National Sculpture Society. McIntire wanted a public setting for the statue, buying a city block of land and demolishing existing structures on it to create a formal landscaped square, later named Lee Park, the first of four parks he would donate to Charlottesville.
Shrady was chronically ill at the time of the commission – he worked on it slowly but it was still unfinished on his death in 1922. Leo Lentelli (1879–1961) completed the sculpture in 1924, and it was dedicated on May 21 of that year. It was cast in the Roman Bronze Works of Brooklyn, New York. Comparison with a surviving model of the proposed statue by Shrady reveals Lentelli's version is less animated than that intended by Shrady. The sculpture is approximately 26 feet high, 12 feet long, and 8 feet wide at the bottom of the pedestal. The oval granite pedestal was designed by the architect Walter Blair and on its side has the inscription "Robert Edward Lee" with the dates 1807 and 1870.
In an open-air press conference beside the Robert E. Lee statue in March 2016, Charlottesville's vice mayor Wes Bellamy called on Charlottesville City Council to remove the statue and rename Lee Park. He said that the statue's presence "disrespected" parts of the community, and that he had "spoken with several different people who have said they have refused to step foot in to that park because of what that statue and the name of that park represents. And we can't have that in the city of Charlottesville"
...
Wikipedia