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Robert Edward Lee Sculpture, Charlottesville, Virginia

  • Also Known As: VDHR No. 104-0264
  • Vicinity: Old Location: Lee Park, bounded by Market, Jefferson, 1st and 2nd Sts, NE
  • Type: Lost Object
  • Lost Category: Lost Object

The Robert Edward Lee Sculpture by Henry Shrady and Leo Lentelli in Charlottesville, Virginia, is nominated to the National Register as part of a multiple property submission under the historic context Monumental Figurative Outdoor Sculpture by Members of the National Sculpture Society donated by Paul Goodloe McIntire to the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, and the University of Virginia during the late City Beautiful movement from 1919-1924. The sculpture meets the registration requirements for this property type, and it retains its historic integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. It is eligible for the National Register at the state level of significance under criterion C as an important art object that exhibits the figurative style of outdoor sculpture produced by members of the National Sculpture Society, a group of masters whose origins are associated with the City Beautiful movement. - NRHP, 13 April 1996


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Robert Edward Lee Sculpture, Charlottesville, Virginia
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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
1917/00/00 Henry Shrady Sculptor Henry Shrady is commissioned by Paul Goodloe McIntire and the National Sculpture Society to create an equestrian sculpture of Robert E Lee.
1917/05/28 Paul Goodloe McIntire Benefactor Looking for a place worthy for a statue of the most distinguished Confederate General Robert E Lee, Paul McIntire buys a city block bounded by Jefferson and Market Streets and by First and Second Streets NE.
1924/00/00 Roman Bronze Works Caster Leo Lentelli finishes Henry Shrady's sculpture of Robert E Lee, cast at the Roman Bronze Works
1924/00/00 Leo Lentelli Architect Leo Lentelli finishes Henry Shrady's sculpture of Robert E Lee, cast at the Roman Bronze Works
2021/07/10 Statue of Robert E Lee is removed and placed in storage.
2021/12/07 The Charlottesville City Council votes 4 to 0 to give the Robert E Lee sculpture to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, a Black-led museum that proposes melting down the bronze statue.

Data »

Particulars for Robert Edward Lee Sculpture, Charlottesville, Virginia:
Criteria Architecture-Engineering
Area of Significance Art
Material Bronze
Art Type Sculpture
Historic Use Work of Art



US National Registry of Historic Places Data »

Accurate at time of registration: 16th May 1997

PLACE DETAILS
Registry Name: Lee, Robert Edward, Scuplture
Registry Address: Lee Park, bounded by Market, Jefferson, 1st and 2nd Sts., NE.
Registry Number: 97000447
Resource Type: Object
Theme Group: Four Monumental Figurative Outdoor Sculptures in Charlottesville MPS
Owner: Local
Architect: Shrady,Henry; Lentelli,Leo
Architectural Style: Other
Attribute: bronze sculpture
Contributing Objects: 1
Other Certification: Date received-pending nomination
Certification: Listed in the National Register
CULTURAL DETAILS
Level of Significance: State
Area of Significance: Art
Applicable Criteria: Architecture-Engineering
Significant Year: 1924
Historic Function: Recreation and Culture
Historic Sub-Function: Work of art (sculpture, carving, rock art)
Current Function: Recreation and Culture
Current Sub-Function: Work of art (sculpture, carving, rock art)

History »

The monumental figurative sculpture of Robert Edward Lee is the second of four works commissioned from members of the National Sculpture Society by philanthropist Paul Goodloe McIntire and the last of three he gave to the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, during the years 1919 to 1924. McIntire wished to make a place worthy of the likeness of the most distinguished Confederate general when, on 28 May 1917, he purchased as a setting for the sculpture, a city block of 45,435 square feet bounded by Jefferson and Market Streets and by First and Second Streets NE.1 Over the next year he demolished the 1829 Southall-Venable home on the site and created a formal landscaped square, now known as Lee Park, which was the first of four parks he eventually gave to Charlottesville. Today, wide concrete walkways lead into the park at each comer and along First Street, and they converge on a central plaza where boxwood, Japanese holly, and lemon balm surround the heroic-sized bronze figures of Lee and his horse, Traveller, atop their oval-shaped granite pedestal.

For Paul McIntire the sculpture of Lee proved most troublesome. When Henry Shrady was commissioned to execute the sculpture in 1917, McIntire could not have known that almost seven years would elapse before the bronze portraits of Lee and Traveller were finally erected in Charlottesville. Chronically ill, Shrady worked very slowly and died before the work was finished. Subsequently, Leo Lentelli completed the sculpture in 1924 and when it was cast at the Roman Bronze Works of Brooklyn, New York, the piece was signed CONCENED BY SHRADY - EXECUTED BY LEO LENTELLI SC. 1924 - NRHP, 13 April 1996


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