Hallowed Heritage: The Life of VirginiaTorpey, Dorothy Margaret
History
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia
Torpey, Dorothy Margaret
Virginia -- Civilization
William Ludwell Sheppard, a sculptor, created numerous well-known
statues, including a bronze one of Governor William Smith located on
the north side of Capitol Square in Richmond, "The Color-Bearer,"
a bronze haut-relief, the "Soldiers' and Sailors'" Monument and the
Statue of General A. P. Hill--all located in Richmond.
Augustus Lukeman, a Richmonder who later moved to New York City,
made the portrait bust of Jefferson Davis in the United States
Capitol. A Norfolk native, William Couper, molded a bronze statue of
Captain John Smith at Jamestown and a bronze statue of Dr. Hunter H.
McGuire, a brilliant Winchester doctor, on the north side of Capitol
Square in Richmond. He also designed a Norfolk Confederate Soldier
Monument.
Many sculptors who were born outside of Virginia have used events
and personalities of Virginia as their subjects. Charles Keck
executed a bronze group of statues of Meriwether Lewis and William
Clark, the two explorers of the Northwest, which may be seen at
Charlottesville. Lewis and Clark are shown gazing at the horizon,
with their famous woman guide, Sacajawea, not far behind them. At
Monument Terrace in Lynchburg is another bronze statue designed by
Keck, "Statue of a Doughboy," representing the forty-seven soldiers
from Lynchburg killed in World War I. Keck also created the statue
of John Tyler located in the Capitol Rotunda at Richmond.
There is a George Rogers Clark Memorial in Charlottesville designed
by Robert Aitken. It consists of a bronze equestrian statue of
George Rogers Clark surrounded by a group of Indians and scouts.
Six statues depicting the Virginia-born Presidents of the United
States found in the Capitol Rotunda are "William Henry Harrison"
carved by Charles Beach, "Woodrow Wilson" by Harriet Frishmuth,
"James Monroe" and "Thomas Jefferson" by Attilio Piccirilli and
"James Madison" and "Zachary Taylor" by F. William Sievers.
Piccirilli also created a 16-foot marble "Statue of Monroe" located
at the entrance of Ash Lawn, the home of James Monroe, near
Charlottesville. An interesting fact about this statue is that,
after the government of Venezuela had commissioned Piccirilli to
create this statue of Monroe, a revolution occurred in Venezuela
which caused a new slate of officials to succeed in office. Since
some of these officials were not pro-Monroe in their regard for the
Monroe Doctrine, the statue remained in a studio in New York City
from the latter part of the 1800's until 1931. Sievers also designed
the bronze figure of "Stonewall" Jackson astride his horse, Little
Sorrel, for the "Stonewall" Jackson Monument on Monument Avenue in
Richmond.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account