Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 11.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

Sketch of the Lee Memorial Association.

The day of General Lee's death there was a meeting of old Confederate soldiers held in the Courthouse, in Lexington, over which Captain A. Graham, of the old Rockbridge Artillery, presided, and Rev. J. William Jones was made Secretary.

After making some arrangements in reference to attending in a body the funeral of our great commander, a committee, consisting of Major J. B. Dorman and Rev. J. William Jones, was appointed to present suitable resolutions to an adjourned meeting to be held the next day—October the 13th.

At this meeting the committee presented the following resolutions, which were unanimously and heartily adopted:

1. Resolved, That as humble members of the great army of which General Robert Edward Lee was the illustrious head and chief, we mourn his death. With feelings untinged by bitter memories of a stormy past, and [389] with no vain thought of exalting his name in the opinion of mankind, we meet to do him honor. At his open grave, passion must stand abashed, and eulogy is dumb. Striving to mount up to that clear air, wherein his own spirit dwelt, of calm wisdom and heroic patience, we seek only to render a last, simple, but just tribute to his memory. At different times, he was known to some or all of us from the day that he received the sword of Virginia at the hands of her sovereign Convention, and from the seven days around Richmond, through the varying fortunes of an unequal fight, to the closing scenes at Appomattox. He has been known to us again as the beloved and venerated citizen of our own community, and the President of the noble institution of learning to which George Washington gave an endowment and a name. We have been daily witness to his quiet, unostentatious, Christian life; we have seen him prove that ‘him no adversity could ever move, nor policy at any time entice to shrink from God and from his word.’ Knowing him as thus we did, in war and in peace, we pronounce him to have been, in all the elements of real greatness which may challenge cavil and defy the touch of time, the peer of the most renowned of any age or country, and the foremost American of the wondrous century in which he lived. He is gone from among us—‘gone before the Father; far beyond the twilight judgments of this world; high above its mists and obscurities.’ No more shall we look upon his noble form, meet his benignant smile, or receive his kindly greeting. But here where he set his last great example of steadfast, unselfish devotion to duty, the memory of his greatness and his worth must ever linger; and while we reverently bow in submission to the summons of Infinite Wisdom calling him away, we send up a solemn aspiration of thankfulness that to us was the honor and the blessing of communion with him in his last days on earth, and to our people is committed the pious office of consigning his mortal remains to the tomb. Hallowed through all time shall be the spot whence his spirit passed from earth to heaven!

2. Resolved, That we tender to Mrs. Lee and her family the expression of our profound sympathy in an affliction which we feel full well can be but little mitigated by poor words of human consolation.

3. Resolved, That the usual badges of mourning be worn for six months.

4. Resolved, That the officers and soldiers of the late Confederate States, resident in Rockbridge, unite in an association for the erection of a suitable monument at this place, and a committee be appointed to report a plan of organization to an adjourned meeting on Saturday next.

Coming from the funeral services, these veterans held another meeting, at which they adopted the following:

Resolved, by the officers and soldiers of the former Confederate army, now assembled, That we have followed the body of our beloved General to the tomb with inexpressible sorrow; the last sad rites are over, and as we venerated and loved him in life, we ardently desire to guard his sacred dust. Here, at the home of his adoption, in the edifice reared by himself and dedicated [390] to the service and worship of his God, may his remains be permitted to sleep until the awakening which shall clothe them in robes of immortality.

Resolved, That with the utmost deference for their feelings and wishes, we ask leave to present to Mrs. Lee and her family this expression of our anxious desire that to us and his neighbors and friends, and the authorities of his college, may be granted the favor and honor of preserving and watching his sepulchre.

Resolved, That the secretary of the meeting communicate copies of these and our former resolutions to Mrs. Lee.

Thus was originated the movement which has so happily resulted in suitably decorating the grave of Lee.

The ‘Lee Memorial Association’ was formally organized October 24th, 1870, with the following officers:

President—General John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky.

Vice-Presidents—General J. E. Johnston, General J. A. Early, and Colonel W. H. Taylor, of Virginia; General G. T. Beauregard, Louisiana; General D. H. Hill, North Carolina; General Wade Hampton, South Carolina; General J. B. Gordon, Georgia; General W. J. Hardee, Alabama; General S. D. Lee, Mississippi; General R. S. Ewell, Tennessee; General J. B. Hood, Texas; General I. R. Trimble, Maryland; General J. S. Marmaduke, Missouri; General William Preston, Kentucky; General Tappan, Arkansas.

Treasurer—C. M. Figgatt, Bank of Lexington. Secretary—Colonel C. A. Davidson, of Lexington, Virginia.

The Association was incorporated by act of Assembly, January 14, 1871, and organized under its charter February 7, 1871.

The Executive Committee (to the Lexington members, of which is due the credit for the earnest work and wise management which have resulted so satisfactorily) was composed of the following members:

General W. N. Pendleton, chairman, Colonel F. W. M. Holliday, Colonel C. S. Venable, Colonel J. W. Massie (deceased—in his place Colonel Bolivar Christian, May 31, 1873), Colonel Charles A. Davidson (deceased—in his place A. T. Barclay, Esq., June 22, 1882), Judge William McLaughlin, Major J. B. Dorman, Colonel William Allan, Colonel William Preston Johnston, Captain J. C. Boude, Professor J. J. White, Captain A. Graham, General William Terry, Hon. W. A. Anderson, Captain Walter Bowie, General John Echols, Colonel T. S. Flournoy, Rev. J. William Jones, D. D., Colonel J. K. Edmundson.

When the great Lee Memorial meeting was held in Richmond, [391] November the 3rd, 1870, the Lexington Association sent a committee with a proposition to the effect that there should be only one Association with two objects in view:

1. To decorate the tomb of Lee, wherever that might be, and leaving the settlement of that question entirely to the Lee family—

2. To erect in Richmond a grand statue.

This proposition, however, did not seem to meet with favor, and the Lexington Association has quietly pushed its own scheme to completion.

The artist and his work.

In the spring and summer of 1870 Mr. Edward V. Valentine, the distinguished Virginia sculptor, had modeled a bust of General Lee from life (the General giving him frequent sittings and even allowing him to make exact measurements of his person) which all pronounced a well nigh perfect likeness, and which competent artcriti-cism recognized as a very superior work of art. The committee, therefore, naturally turned to Mr. Valentine; and when Mrs. Lee was consulted she unhesitatingly expressed her preference for Valentine as the artist.

Accordingly he was chosen, and upon consultation with Mrs. Lee and the artist the committee cordially approved of her preference, and on June 21st, 1871, accepted Mr. Valentine's model, and commissioned him to execute his beautiful design of a Recumbent Figure after the school of Rauch's figure of Louise of Prussia in the Mausoleum in Charlottenbourg, Mrs. Lee having been particularly pleased with a photograph of that work.

We are sure that our readers will thank us for giving the following sketch of our artist from the graceful pen of our ‘Queen of Song,’ Mrs. Margaret J. Preston, of Lexington, Virginia, written originally for the American Art Review.

Emerson, in his aphoristic way, says that ‘the English people are incapable of an inutility.’ He argues that the idea of Beauty with them is luxury; and, as a consequence, that the fine arts among them fall to the ground. With much ingenuity, he attributes this to race temperament and climatic influence. In the mosaic of our cosmopolitan American civilization, where race and climate are of the most varied character, it might be supposed that a very different state of things would exist. We are, as a people, almost so [392] pre-eminently practical as to be ‘incapable of an inutility’; and yet along with this we have combined a sentiment which is wanting to the Englishman. Youth and struggle and poverty have held in abeyance the art spirit heretofore; but how rapid has been the advance in its direction, now that wealth has relaxed the mere necessity for bread-winning, and offers the leisure without which no arts can be fostered!

As a matter of course, or rather as a matter of history, Southern lands have been in large measure the chosen homes of beauty, luxury and leisure; and hence it follows legitimately that they should be the homes of all the higher arts. Compare Northern Europe with Southern through the Middle Ages on to the Cinque-Cento period, and how vast the difference! To be sure the Renaissance gave Germany an Albrecht Durer; but for one artist north of the Po, hundreds might be counted south of it. Where were England's old masters, when Spain, Venice, Tuscany, were reckoning theirs by scores?

If, then, art existed in our own country at all, we might naturally look for it in the Southern portion, where much, in time past, conduced to foster it—wealth for the more distinctively marked and limited upper classes, refinement, generally diffused education for such, and only two abundant leisure. But if we do look for it in the South, we fail to find it. The entire art spirit, with but few exceptions, has been confined to the North. Our poets, painters, sculptors, as a general thing, have been born above the charmed ‘line.’

We allow the fact, without inquiring after the solution, farther than to say that we believe physical indolence has had very much to do with it. Now that times have changed, and such necessity for individual effort has arisen as did not exist two decades ago, we may hope for better things, of which we already see the well-defined promise. From the carcass of the slain lion may be drawn the honeycomb of those beautiful arts that shall sweeten all our future.

We are awakening, it is certain, to the importance of cherishing those in our midst who have won for themselves such reputations as reflect credit upon their mother-land. Among the first of Southern sculptures—nay, it is not invidious to say the very first of these—is the Virginian Valentine. Galt, of Norfolk, was cut off in the days of his early promise. Ezekiel, of Richmond, is building up his fame in Rome. But Valentine has already achieved, abroad and at [393] home, a name which will not die. Circumstances have combined to trammel and hinder him in his onward career. The fortunes of war have affected his success. We all remember how grand old Michael Angelo's noble creations were interfered with when armies beleagured his beloved Florence; and, reasoning from the greater to the less, we can well understand how our modern sculptor has fared in his war-smitten city and State.

Edward Virginius Valentine was born in the city of Richmond, Virginia, November 12, 1838. As is usual with those whose art-faculty is an instinct, his talent for sculpture developed itself in his earliest boyhood, and he was fortunate in possessing surroundings that tended to foster his natural bent. He was not thwarted in any way; but his art proclivities were, nevertheless, not suffered to interfere with that solid foundation of education which should underlie all art. Thorwaldsen assumed the chisel before he could write and spell his own language or any other correctly; and he remained an uncultured man to the end of his career save in one department. But keeping in view his chosen course, young Valentine combined with other studies a course of Lectures on Anatomy, which he attended at the Medical College of Richmond when he was scarce more than a boy. He had the advantage of cultivated friendships and artistic counsel from the beginning, for, in his boyhood, the capital of the State still kept much of the prestige of the old regime. Mrs. Mowatt Ritchie, whose fine taste was moved by some of his earlier work, gave him encouraging words and foretold his future eminence. John R. Thompson, at that time a leading litterateur of the South, held out a helping hand. Governor Wise sat to him for a portrait bust, which was so perfect as to awaken high hopes for the future artist, so that he was not called to go through that oftre-peated struggle to which so many bright spirits are doomed before a clear pathway is opened for their endeavor. The youth was not subjected to the discouragements which have embarrassed the finished master, for then the wide world was before him, and ambition and hope bouyed him and beckoned him on. Now, ready for high achievement, but sharing the evil fortunes which have robbed his native city and State of their ability to fill his hands with commissions, he waits in his studio, surrounded by his beautiful creations, for orders to put them into marble—orders which, through the stress of circumstance, have but stintedly come. At times we are disposed to think that he has made a great mistake in not changing his studio to one of our large Northern cities, where [394] the art spirit, art taste, and the ability to purchase works of art exist as they cannot anywhere now in the impoverished South. Asking for bread, as our people do, how can Valentine offer them a stone! But his strong love for his ancestral soil holds him in Richmond, and hence he has not attained that national renown to which his remarkable merits entitle him.

His earliest masters were Hubard, whose fine reproductions in bronze of Houdon's statue of Washington are well known, and Oswald Heinrich, who had come from the centre of Saxon art, Dresden, where his father was private secretary to the picture-loving king. But the ambitious youth panted for such stimulus as could only be found beyond the seas, and consequently, in 1859, when he was just twenty years of age, he went abroad for study. His first point was Paris, where he became a pupil of Couture and learned to draw from the nude. Couture had been a student of Paul de la Roche, and was then in the height of his popularity. After remaining for some time under his instruction, he set out again for the goal of his desires. Italy, the shrine of all the arts. He lingered in intoxicated delight amid the galleries of Milan, Verona, Florence, Rome, going even as far south as Naples. He studied Michael Angelo and John of Bologna, and the splendid antique of the Vatican, and mulitudes of the old masters and the modern ones, until his whole nature was saturated, as it were, and he became restless to put to account the stores he was laying up. He returned to Florence and placed himself under the instruction of Bonauti, the friend of Canova and the pupil of Thorwaldsen.

The year after this we find the young artist at Dresden, with the view of becoming the pupil of Rietschel, the famous sculptor there. But he found that the grave had just closed over him; so he hastened on to Berlin, made a special art centre by the presence of such men as Rauch and Cornelius, and Kiss and Schadow and Wolff, all of whom with one exception are now among the dead. Valentine had seen Kiss's great work in bronze, The Amazon Attacked by a Tiger, and it had left such an impression as made him desirous of receiving instruction from him. On application to Kiss, however, he was refused, the old sculptor saying that he took no pupils. The young American was not easily daunted, and he pleaded so effectively that Kiss relaxed so far as to bid him return to him for his answer three weeks later. At the appointed hour, Valentine duly presented himself, and the result of the conference was that Kiss installed him in his atelier, and in a short time, through his diligence, skill, and gentleness, [395] he so won upon the old artist that he thenceforth treated him almost with the kindness of a father; he was childless, and into his heart and home the young student was taken as none had been taken before. In the early days with Kiss the civil war in America broke out, and the ability to hold communication with his home was soon cut off. The impulse so strong upon him to go back to Virginia was thwarted in various ways, and in the stoppage of pecuniary supplies, Kiss pressed upon his pupil purse, home, all he should need. When the old sculptor died, several years after, while Valentine was still with him, he it was who was among the last to be near him, just before his sudden death, and he it was who alone could comfort the desolate widow. Madame Kiss entreated that the beloved pupil should remain as a son with her, pressed upon him the use, without charge, of the old master's atelier, and finally presented him with many valuable works of art—among other things, all the implements with which Kiss had wrought at his beloved sculptures.

After the close of the war, when return became possible again, the young student could not resist the hungry longing for home, and turning his back on such offers as would have broken down the resistant patriotism of many a less ardent nature, he came back to Virginia at the close of 1865. When he landed in New York he was offered such advantages as were most tempting to an ambitious young artist; but he rather chose to cast in his lot with his own people, and so set up his studio in Richmond.

It was a hopeless prospect which presented itself when Valentine opened his rooms in his native city. The depression of every kind was terrible. A certain paralysis rested on all hearts and hands. It seemed a mere mockery to offer to execute busts and statues for people who lacked almost the necessaries of life. But he was brave, and his courage did not fail him. He had brought home with him an exquisite statuette of General Lee, which at once commanded admiration. Some London journals had spoken of it in exalted terms, for it had been carried to England and exhibited there. It was a very complete representation of the Confederate commander, and attracted great and wide attention to the sculptor's work.

Mr. Valentine had also won for himself high praise in Berlin, by a bust, modeled from life, of Dr. Franz von Holtzendorff, now Professor of Law in the University of Munich; he will be remembered as having been the defender of Count Arnim, in the famous trial in Berlin.

But though commissions could not be expected under the circumstances, [396] Mr. Valentine did not wait in idleness. He modeled various ideal heads—among others The Samaritan Woman, with its striking face and remarkable down-dropt eyes. The Penitent Thief, a wonderful presentment of agonizing pain and awful entreaty, belongs to this period. Lee's bust was modelled, a very superior piece of bust portraiture, and many a well-known Virginian's followed—Maury's, Stuart's, Albert Sidney Johnston's, Joseph E. Johnston's, and still others. General J. E. B. Stuart he modelled in so life-like a manner that one almost expects to hear the bold cavalier ring out one of his characteristic snatches of song. For the Humboldt Festival, inaugurated some time later by the German citizens of Richmond, in honor of the great scientist, he made the collossal bust of him which has been so much admired.

The power Valentine has of portraying the varied type of the negro never has been equaled. The Nation's Ward is matchless in its absolute verity; Uncle Henry will go down to posterity as the only correct type of ‘de ole Virginny darkey, sah;’ while Knowledge is Power, a negro boy clothed in tatters, who has fallen asleep with his dog-eared book dropping from his limp hand, is, we surely think, the best piece of good-humored satire that was ever modelled.

After patient waiting, a handsome commission did come to our artist. The trustees of the Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, ordered a statue of General Lee, offering for it $15,000, and leaving all details to the sculptor. A recumbent figure was chosen, suggested perhaps, by the exquisite one at Charlottenbourg over the tomb of the queen of Prussia, by Rauch, or the less celebrated one of the Duchess of Nassau at Wiesbaden, by Hoffgarten. But there is no resemblance, whatever, beyond the mere fact that it is recumbent. As well might it be said that Rauch took his idea from a sleeping knight stretched upon a tomb in some mediaeval cathedral. It is in this exquisite piece of statuary that we have the first real gauge of our sculptor's range of power. It is cut from one block of flawless marble, and is to occupy a place in the Lee Mausoleum, at Washington and Lee University, not yet complete.

Mr. S. Teakle Wallis, of Baltimore, in an address at the Baltimore Academy of Music, thus speaks of the great work: ‘The statue, which is of marble, and of rather more than life-size, received the last touches of the chisel but a few days since, and was exhibited to the public in Richmond, where it created the profoundest [397] sensation. * * * The hero is lying in his uniform, as if in sleep, upon his narrow soldier's bed. One hand is on his bosom, and touches, unconsciously and gently, ‘the drapery of his couch.’ The other is lying by his side, where it has fallen, and rests upon his sword. The portraiture is perfect, no less as to form than feature. The whole expression is that of tranquil and absolute repose—the repose of physical power, unshaken though dormant—of manly grace most graceful when at rest—of noble faculties alive and sovereign though still.’

An English gentleman, a traveler who saw it while it was yet in the studio, writes of it: ‘We confess to feelings of profound astonishment as we first gazed at Valentine's splendid sculpture. We felt proud that Virginia had such a son. We had seen the works of great modern masters in Europe, but never had we seen one of greater power, conception, and execution than this Lee monument.’ A writer in a German paper says: ‘The General lies upon a sarcophagus, the upper part of the body slightly raised, in a gentle slumber. * * * Mr. Valentine has especially succeeded in preserving the warm and living impression of the living body; it is not the countenance of death. It is Lee as he was—as the people of the South knew him; the work has nothing of the cold, disconsolate look of death about it; the artist has animated it with the warm breath of peace.’ A critic in the Richmond Enquirer, commenting upon a saying of Thorwaldsen's, that he did not fear his own conception, says the truth, and purity, and strength of Mr. Valentine's modelling is such that he verifies the remark of the great Dane——‘he did not “fear his own conception.” His ambition was exalted, and he searched for his ideal in a field of art where the dividing line between success and failure is so exact as to render the ground treacherous and the undertaking dangerous. Between the extremes of the mediaeval and modern sarcophagi there is a wide difference; but the art movement involved in the present undertaking was not strictly to be found in the intermediate ground. The contact was between an antique principle reflected through the solid grandeur of the German intellect in sculpture, and an immense deal of the artist's own originality. Had he failed to find it, his failure would have been complete. That he has not failed, but has achieved a triumph, we believe will be the opinion of the best art judgment in the country.’

As a work of pure ideal art and that into which he has put most of his own conception, Mr. Valentine himself sets the highest value on his Andromache and Astyanax, and if he is enabled to carry out [398] his idea in marble, it will be accepted as his masterpiece. The moment represented is that after which the sorrowful and anxious wife is bidden by her husband to take her place among the women and ply the loom, while he, as a man should, seeks the field of glory and strife. The child leans upon his mother, toying with an ornament that is suspended from her neck, and his young, sunny child-face, innocent of all care or trouble, together with the tense, elastic figure, is brought into exquisite contrast with the utter relaxation of Andromache's pose, the neglected distaff across the lap, the drooping head, the limp, supine arm, the expression of apprehension and grief. It tells this lovely Homeric story as it never has been told before in plastic art. The accessories are all strict studies from the antique; it is sternly classic throughout. How nobly this fine conception, in marble, (it is as yet only in clay,) would adorn the sculpture room of the Corcoran Gallery in Washington!

Mr. Valentine has a pleasant studio on Leigh street, one of the quietest, shadiest portions of the shady city of Richmond. It is fitted with that bric-a-brac so dear to the artist's soul—old tapestries, articles of vertu, statuettes by Flamingo, figures found in Pompeii, curios from Egypt, his master Kiss's works, copies from the old galleries of Florence and Rome, and such like matters—not to speak of the sculptor's own varied creations, which, of course, give it its special attraction and value.

The April number of the Southern Review, in an article entitled ‘Art in the South,’ thus speaks of Mr. Valentine: ‘Valentine, of Virginia, is one of the foremost of American sculptors, * * * and were his studio in Rome, or London, or Boston, or New York, is it too much to say that his hands would be filled with commissions? Is it beyond the truth to aver that his pathetic and exquisite Andromache and Astyanax would have been gracing in marble some princely saloon, instead of having to wait in the moulder's clay for an order? Is it putting it too strongly to declare that replicas of his inimitable Knowledge is Power (a sleeping negro boy with his dropping book), or his marvelous production, the saucy, good-for-naught Nations Ward, would be in every large gallery of representative art? The hand that modeled the recumbent figure of Lee, and gave us the portrait busts of Maury, Stuart, and others, would not be suffered, surely to let its skill lie dormant for lack of commissions. If England with her supercilious opinion so often expressed, that “Art is yet crude in America,” can afford to praise this master-piece of the Richmond sculptor, having no better or truer idea [399] of it than mere photographs can give—if Roman critics have words of commendation for Ezekiel's Christ, and his Religious Liberty— where is our pride in the genius of our sons, that we do not do vastly more than simply re-echo this applause?’

Mr. Valentine is, it must be remembered, only forty-one years old, and can hardly be said to have yet attained his artistic majority; for most great workers, whether the chisel, the brush, or the pen has been the implement used, have accomplished their noblest achievements after that age. Consequently we may expect with confidence yet rarer models from his hand.

We have not spoken of the artist's personal appearance, and of this only a word must suffice. He is tall, though somewhat under six feet, slight in his physique, with fine, regular features, and a spiritualized expression of face, which would mark him out at a glance as a man whose life was passed rather in an ideal state of existence, than amid the denizens of this hard, money-loving, money-getting, work-a-day world.

We add in this connection the sketch of the completed work written by G. Watson James, D. L., of Richmond, Va., which strikes us as eminently accurate and just:

As viewed in perspective from the chapel the effect of the work and its surroundings is grand and impressive in the highest degree. The subdued but well-directed light falling through the compartment glass in the ceiling of the mausoleum brings out the head of the figure with a Rambrandt distinctness, while the shadows fall away on all sides in, as it were, a chromatic scale. The floor of the chamber is tessellated in white-veined marble and encaustic tiles. The walls consist of panels of grayish Indiana marble enframed in dark Baltimore pressed brick, and surmounted by semi-circular compartments which can be used for basso-relievo medallions. In one of these compartments, immediately facing the chapel, is inscribed the name of General Lee, together with the dates of his birth and death. Immediately around the base of the sarcophagus is a border of dark tiling, which has the effect of elevating the work, the base course and flooring blending so as to break all angles and hard lines. The ante-room of the mausoleum is separated from the chapel by heavy sunken curtains.

The figure and couch, which are of statuary-marble, are mounted on a sarcophagus simple almost to severity in its order, and which rests on a granite base course. The sides of the sarcophagus are [400] composed of two marble panels each, the space between the panels bearing in basso relievo on the one side the Lee court-of-arms, with the motto

Non Incautus Futuri,

Robert Edward Lee,

born

January 19TH, 1807;

died

October 12TH, 1870.

The entablature is supported at the four corners by fluted pilasters.

Regarding the figure as a sculptural achievement, when it was exhibited in Richmond we wrote, after careful study of it, the following criticism. These impressions are now, to our mind, more than confirmed.

The figure is over life-size, and rests upon a heavily-draped couch in an attitude of easy repose, the head being elevated to a natural position, with the face turned slightly to the right. The feet are lightly crossed. The right forearm lies across the breast—the hand holding by simple weight the blanket which covers the lower part of the body—while the left arm is fully extended along the couch; this hand touches the hilt of a sword. In its minutest details the work exhibits the closest artistic study. In the drapery of the couch, every fold of which is rich, heavy and graceful, the swelling contour of the limbs beneath the blanket, the naturalness of the position, the chaste elaboration of the sword hilt, we have a musical scale of harmony and the legend of a poetic mind, looking perhaps to the austere and philosophic for the beautiful, but developing it so as to impress the most casual, nevertheless. Of the faithfulness of the portraiture it is not necessary to speak—that is conceded. It is with the idealization as embodied in the expression we have to deal. It is not death—it can hardly be termed sleep. Though the eyes are closed there is the light of a noble soul existence visible, irreconcilable with either life or death, but not inconsistent with the art principle that reverences the genius of grandeur, no matter what its form. The artist has aimed at grandeur, true and pure, and has reflected the rays of the German [401] school in which his education in plastic art was obtained—the school to which Rauch is indebted for his style, and which was kept alive by Rietschel at Dresden, Drake and Albert Wolff at Berlin, and Blaeser at Cologne—whose influence was felt by Schadow and Schwanthaler, and whose disciple at Copenhagen was Bessen, and at Rome Pierre Galli and others—the school that really drew its inspiration from the genius of Thorvaldsen. Taking the figure in its whole proportions, Mr. Valentine has resorted to none of the artifices of art; and while one may not feel so quickly touched by it-speaking in the accepted aesthetical sense as opposed to the idea of being impressed—its eminent beauties constantly reveal themselves by study. A celebrated sculptor, in comparing Canova and Thorvaldsen, once said that before Canova's work he was always on the defensive, fearing that his judgment might be taken captive by the excessive airs and grace of the figures and by the extreme skilfulness of the execution, which often conceal faults, and which were neither natural nor antique. With Thorvaldsen, on the contrary, he continues: ‘I do not fear any such artifices; my mind is tranquil. I prefer him for his greater breadth of style and because his work is truer and more correct.’ To the artistic judgment in the abstract tranquility of mind is expressive of the feeling in gazing upon Mr. Valentine's creation. The breadth, purity, and truth of modelling is that of an artist who does not fear his own conception. His ambition was of the most exalted character, and he searched for his ideal in a field of art where the dividing line between success and failure is so exact as to render the ground treacherous and the undertaking dangerous. Between the extremes of the mediaeval and the modern sarcophaghi, it is true, there is a wide difference, but the art movement involved in the present undertaking was not strictly to be found in the intermediate ground. The contact was between an antique principle reflected through the solid grandeur of the German intellectualism in sculpture and an immense deal of originality. Had he failed to find it his failure would have been complete. That he has not failed, but has achieved a most wonderful triumph, we believe will be the best art judgment in the country. Leaving the abstract artistic question of the merits of the figure, we can say little more of it without repeating ourselves. The most casual observer must, upon viewing it, be filled with a solemnity touched with awe; must feel that it is the creation of a great genius; that it is a noble effort in art. It appeals to the strongest sense of reverence, and has made the reputation of Virginia's sculptor. [402]

The position of the work in the mausoleum throws the head to the north, with the face turned slightly toward the chapel, thus affording a view of it from a number of different points. It is impossible to imagine greater architectural and sculptural harmony.

We add the conclusion of a long and very appreciative article written by the Art critic of the Boston Post:

The writer was favored with a sight of it [the plaster cast] in Mr. Valentine's studio at Richmond, Va., several months ago, and the impression then gained was very favorable to its excellent qualities as a work of art. The figure is full length, reclining upon the back on a couch. The likeness is said by those who knew General Lee intimately to be exceptionably good, and it certainly is faithful to the best portraits of him now extant. The pose of the figure is firm, and yet is so happily devoid of hardness that it is quite easy and natural, and suggests the idea of calm slumber more clearly than such work is wont to do. The drapery thrown over the figure and across the couch is admirably handled with the utmost grace and simplicity in its folds. This quality of simplicity and directness is the strong feature in the work as a whole.

There is a great deal of the pure Greek in Mr. Valentine's art sense, and we find it strongly manifested in this work. There are no meretricious ornaments in the way of decorations, nothing of the “catchy” character, but plain, simple, straightforward and intelligent methods. This work is thoroughly simple and severe, and quite classic in character. In the hands of an artist of lesser power these qualities so pronounced might easily have degenerated into hardness and coldness, but it is not so here, however. They add a dignity and an impressiveness to the subject that eminently befit and elevate it to a higher position among the best of our native works of sculpture. It is a triumph in art that the sculptor may well be proud of, and which must be thoroughly satisfactory to every admirer of General Lee.

We will only add to the criticisms which we have quoted above that the writer of this saw Valentine's original bust of Lee while he was at work on it and after its completion,—saw his original design of the Recumbent Figure, his study, his completed figure in plaster, and the marble at every stage from the rude block until in March, 1875, the artist gave it the finishing touches of his genius, and in Lexington, after the unveiling, we sat by and studied it by the hour, [403] and heard the expressions of hundreds who came to see it. We think, therefore, that while laying no claim to being an ‘Art critic’ in the technical sense of that term, we are competent to say that the figure fully reaches our conception of ‘Marse Robert Asleep’ in his nightly bivouac beneath the stars, and that if the work has a fault, in its conception or execution, we have not been able to discover it.

Our frontispiece (for which we are indebted to the liberal courtesy of Harper's Weekly, where it originally appeared), is an admirable representation of the figure. We may add that M. Miley, Lexington, Va., has beautiful photographs of the Chapel, the Mausoleum, and the Recumbent Figure.

Removal of the figure from Richmond to Lexington.

At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Lee Memorial Association on the 1st of April, 1875, the following resolutions were adopted:

Resolved, 1. That Messrs. Dr. J. William Jones and E. V. Valentine be requested by the Lee Memorial Association to make the arrangements necessary for the removal of the Lee monument from the artist's studio to Lexington, Va.

Resolved, 2. That the Lee Memorial Association, having heard from Rev. Dr. Jones that the students of Richmond College ‘will make an application for the privilege of taking charge of the monument when it is sent up, bearing the expenses of its transportation,’ &c., very cordially accede to the kind and courteous proposal.

Resolved, 3. That the gentlemen composing the escort on behalf of the students of Richmond College be invited to be the guests of the Association during their visit to Lexington.

The removal from the studio to the depot on the afternoon of April the 13th, 1875, was thus described in the Richmond Dispatch of the next day:

This event attracted to the neighborhood of Valentine's studio yesterday afternoon an immense crowd. Judges of the Court of Appeals, high officials, dignified divines, all of the professions, our most substantial business-men, our military, the students of our college, old soldiers (some of them on crutches), the youth and the beauty of our fair city, were all there to show their appreciation of the great work, and their loving respect for our grand old chieftain.

The boxing of the figure was begun Monday morning and completed at 10 A. M. yesterday. The box was very skillfully built up around the figure, which was covered with cotton pads, and so wedged in with ‘clamps’ as to prevent any slipping.

The case was then turned over to the ladies (especially those in the immediate neighborhood of the studio), who, with the assistance of Mr. Thomas J. Minor and several other gentlemen, proceeded to decorate it with flowers, evergreens, and mottoes. The decorations were really beautiful, and reflected credit on the excellent taste which arranged them. On each side of the case, worked in evergreen and spring blossoms, was the simple, magic name “Lee” ; and when the monument reached the depot some of the officers of the Danville railroad added beneath this the motto: “Virginia's Son—Never to be forgotten.”

The safe transportation of so heavy a weight (about four tons) to the depot was a difficulty very easily solved by the kindness of Colonel Hobson, of the Tredegar Works, who placed at the disposal of the committee one of his wagons, which he permitted them to carry through to Lexington.

At three o'clock the procession was formed in a drenching rain which would have broken up any column composed of less enthusiastic material.

The students of Richmond College, the First Virginia regiment, and a very large crowd of citizens generally (among them many ladies) braved the storm, and held their places in the ranks until the procession reached the depot, while along the whole of the line of march the sidewalks and every door and window which afforded a view of the procession were crowded with eager lookers-on. It was a grand, voluntary, outpouring of our people to do honor to the memory of Lee. [406]

Several places of business along the route were beautifully draped, and had suspended portraits of Lee and Jackson. No accident occurred on the way, and the procession arrived in due time at the depot.

Here the liberal kindness of Colonel Buford, Colonel Talcott, Colonel H. T. Douglass, and other officials of the Danville road, had made every provision for the safety and speedy loading and transportation of the figure. The wagon was rolled up on a flat, which takes it through to Lynchburg, where it will be transferred to a canal-boat, which will take it through to Lexington.

It is accompanied by a committee of ten students of the societies of Richmond College, whose generous offer to carry it through to Lexington was gratefully accepted by the Lee Memorial Association, and Mr. Thomas Barry, an experienced and skillful mover of heavy weights.

At six o'clock the engine, beautifully draped, was attached to the train, and sped on its way with its precious freight, followed by the best wishes of our people, who honor every effort to honor the memory of Lee, and are especially interested in this splendid triumph of our young sculptor, of whom Virginia has cause to be so proud.

All along the route the committee met with a most cordial reception, and the highest respect was shown by people eager to do anything in their power to pay respect to the name of Lee. The reception of the figure in Lexington was thus described by a correspondent of the Richmond Dispatch:

As completing the matter of the removal of the figure to Lexington, we append the following:

Lee chapel and the Mausoleum.

Upon his death a vault was prepared in the floor of the library room and this became his tomb; his office was preserved just as he left it the day he went from its busy duties to the vestry meeting of his church, and there was introduced the beautiful custom of having detailed every day a student guard to keep watch and ward at his grave, and show visitors any needed courtesy.

After the completion of Valentine's figure, it was determined, after careful consideration, to erect a mausoleum, to contain it as an annex to the eastern end of the chapel, beneath which there should be vaults to contain the bodies of the General, Mrs. Lee, and Miss Agnes.

The committee were very fortunate in securing as architect of the mausoleum Mr. J. Crawford Neilson, of Baltimore, who not only presented a very beautiful design, but also superintended the building, and refused to receive any compensation whatever for his services-doing it all as a ‘labor of love,’ and as his tribute to the memory of Lee.

The Dispatch thus described the laying of the corner-stone of the Mausoleum and its final completion:

The ceremony of laying the corner-stone of the building took place on the 29th of November, 1878, the committee having been especially careful to avoid urgency in the collection of funds for its completion, as they held it should be regarded a privilege to contribute to such an object. The exercises took place in the University chapel. Hon. J. R. Tucker, Rev. Dr. Weddell, General R. D. Lilly, General Joseph E. Johnston, General W. N. Pendleton, ex- [410] Governor Letcher, General F. H. Smith, Rev. Dr. Mullally, General J. T. L. Preston, Rev. Dr. Thompson, Rev. I. W. Canter, and other distinguished gentlemen being present.

Professor James J. White, of the Executive Committee, and one of the moving spirits of the Association, stated the object of the gathering, and paid a glowing tribute to Mr. Valentine, in which he declared that the triumph of the artist was complete, and that his name “would go down with the Christian soldier whose history he had stamped upon the imperishable marble. His was a work of which Virginia will be proud, and Valentine may well rest his fame where Virginia rests her love. The laurels that bind the brow of her noblest soldier will sprout anew to crown the genius of her greatest artist.”

Prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. (General) William N. Pendleton, which was followed by an oration by Senator Withers.

Professor White announced that the ceremonies of laying the corner-stone would be conducted by General Joseph E. Johnston and Hon. John Randolph Tucker, and the audience repairing to the northeast corner of the building, General Johnston, after paying a short but feeling tribute to the memory of Lee, proceeded to deposit in the leaden box inserted in the stone the following articles:

Copy of autograph letter of General Washington, written in 1798, making bequest of $50,000 to Liberty Hall Academy.

Action of the Board of Trustees calling General Lee to the presidency of Washington College in 1865.

General Lee's letter of acceptance.

Personal Recollections of General Lee, by General Pendleton, delivered by him on the second anniversary of his death.

Reminiscence, anecdotes and letters of General R. E. Lee, by J. William Jones, D. D.

Roll of Liberty-Hall Volunteers.

Photographs of General R. E. Lee, General Custis Lee, and the Board of Trustees and Faculty.

Copies of Records of the Lee Memorial Association.

A copy of the “Southern Collegian,” containing an account of the funeral ceremonies of General R. E. Lee.

Names of members of the Lee Memorial Association.

Names of Executive Committee of Lee Memorial Association.

Copies of “Southern Collegian” for October and November, 1878.

The ceremonies were closed with a benediction by Dr. Pendleton. [411]

The mausoleum proper, which has but recently been finished, rests upon a crypt of heavy masonry, containing twenty-odd repositories for burial-cases. Into this crypt the remains of GeneralLee and Mrs. Lee and their daughter, Miss Agnes Lee, were removed several weeks ago. The exterior of the superstructure, in accordance with the plan agreed upon, is severely plain, the material being ordinary building brick. The interior, or monumental chamber, is reached by a short flight of steps, and through an ante-room dividing it from the chapel. The floor measurement is 40x30 feet, and the entire finishing and architectural effect, as before described, is rich, appropriate, and impressive. The mausoleum can be cut off from the chapel by heavy iron doors, and the whole structure is absolutely fire-proof.

It was gratifying to find Mr. Valentine so delighted with the manner in which his figure is placed—so entirely satisfied with the light and the general advantage in which his work will be seen.

The grand occasion of the unveiling of the figure.

We were favored with bright skies and beautiful weather, and from six o'clock A. M., when the Virginia Military Institute battery fired a salute of seventeen guns, until late at night, the town was alive with people, and all animated by the spirit of the occasion.

Every train had brought its cargo, every mode of conveyance had added to the numbers, and the largest crowd ever assembled in Lexington gathered to do honor to the day. But the hospitality of these good people was fully equal to the demand, and entertainment was provided for all comers.

At eight o'clock a special train brought from Baltimore the ‘Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States in Maryland,’ the ‘Maryland Line,’ and the ‘Maury Association,’ who all wore beautiful badges gotten up especially for the occasion, bore two Confederate flags, and a flag of the State of Maryland, and were headed by a band of sixteen pieces. These veterans attracted great attention, and there was general commendation of their zeal and enterprise in coming in such large numbers to honor the memory of their old commander.

From the depot they marched at once to the cemetery at the head of the town. During the march the band played ‘Dixie,’ ‘Maryland, [412] My Maryland,’ and the ‘Bonnie Blue Flag.’ Arriving at the cemetery gate, the procession entered to the roll of muffled drums, and after marching around the grave of ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, General Steuart, Lieutenant W. P. Zollinger, Lieutenant-Colonel Clemment Sullivan, Captain John W. Torsch, Captain Frank Marcoe, of General Gordon's staff, and Captain A. J. Smith, deposited at the head of the grave a handsome bronze Memorial Tablet to Jackson.

The tablet is about five feet high. At the head is the word ‘Stonewall’; on one side ‘June 28th,’ on the other ‘1883.’ Just underneath the word ‘Stonewall’ is the coat-of-arms of Maryland, and below that the following legend: ‘Fatti machii parole femine’—‘From the survivors of his men in Maryland.’ Jackson's grave was beautifully decorated with flowers, as was also the iron rail around it. At the four corners of the railing were shields, attached to cross-swords and surrounded by wreaths of evergreens. Each shield bore a motto, as follows: 1.

That could not yield,
Was the legend of his shield.

‘Port Republic.’ 2.

From the field of death and fame,
Borne upon his shield he came.

‘Chancellorsville.’ 3.

From the land for which he bled,
Honor to the warrior dead.

‘Manassas.’ 4.

In the Valley let me lie
Underneath God's open sky.

‘Lexington.’

These mottoes were furnished by Mrs. Margaret J. Preston.

In the centre of the section was the flag borne by the Cadet Corps at New Market, and above the cemetery gate was the battle-flag of the Rockbridge Rifles. The graves of General Pendleton, Paxton and others were also decorated. At General Pendleton's grave were stationed two pieces of artillery.

The Confederate battle-flags, made of immortelles, which the youngest daughter of President Davis sent to decorate the graves of Lee and Jackson, (and which were appropriately placed on them by Miss Carrie Daniel, the bright ten-year-old daughter of the orator of the day) were very beautiful, and were very much admired, as were all of the floral decorations, which reflected great credit on the zeal and taste of the ladies in charge. [413]

Hon. William A. Anderson, chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, had general charge of the day's proceedings, and announced the following Marshals and Assistant Marshals, all of whom were mounted and distinguished by sashes:

Chief Marshal, Lieutenant-General Wade Hampton. Marshals: General R. D. Lilley, Colonel W. T. Poague, Colonel John A. Gibson, Colonel J. D. H. Ross, Major Charles F. Jordan, Major W. Paxton, Mr. John T. Dunlop, Mr. W. F. Johnston, Mr. William M. Dunlap, Mr. Harry E. Moore, Mr. W. B. F. Leech, Mr. S. H. Letcher, Mr. J. E. McCauley, Captain J. H. H. Figgatt, Captain James Bumgardner, Captain T. C. Morton, Captain James A. Strain, Captain J. G. Updike, Captain William C. McKenny, Dr. Z. J. Walker, Captain William Wade, Captain J. P. Moore, Lieutenant J. H. B. Jones, Mr. R. T. McLeod, Captain W. F. Pierson, Captain William Bumgardner.

Chief of Assistant Marshals, Mr. E. C. Day, of Kentucky. Assistant Marshals: Mr. J. M. Becker, Pennsylvania; Mr. R. Godson, Kentucky; Mr. L. L. Campbell, Virginia; Mr. H. D. Flood, Virginia; Mr. Q. T. Bugg, Louisiana; Mr. G. O. Beirne, West Virginia; Mr. H. McCrum, Virginia.

At 9.30 o'clock the procession formed in the following order:

Chief Marshals and Aides,

Cadet Band,

Corps of Cadets,

Maryland Band,

Maryland Visitors,

Survivors of the Stonewall Brigade, under command of General Terry.

The procession reached the cemetery, filed around Jackson's grave, and thence marched to the University grounds.

Here an immense crowd had assembled in front of the large platform, which was reserved for, first, generals of the Confederate States Army and officers of the Confederate States Navy above the rank of commander; second, officers of the general Government of the Confederate States; third, the Governor of Virginia and members of the present Government; fourth, governors of any of the States of the Union and members of the Senate or House of Representatives of the United States; fifth, members of the Board of Trustees and Faculty of Washington and Lee University; sixth, members of the Board of Visitors and Faculty of the Virginia Military [414] Institute; seventh, specially invited guests; eighth, members of the Lee Memorial Association.

Among the more notable persons present on the platform were Generals Wade Hampton, of South Carolina; J. A. Early, of Virginia; William Smith, (the last war Governor of Virginia); William Terry, of Wytheville, Virginia; George H. Steuart, of Maryland; M. D. Corse, R. D. Lilly, Fitzhugh Lee, G. W. Custis Lee, W. H. F. Lee and F. H. Smith, of Virginia; Judge H. W. Bruce, of Kentucky; Hon. C. R. Breckinridge, of Arkansas; Mrs. Stonewall Jackson and her daughter, Miss Julia; Mrs. J. E. B. Stuart and her daughter, Miss Virginia; Mrs. General George E. Pickett; Mrs. J. M. Carlisle, widow of General Anderson of Kentucky; E. V. Valentine the sculptor, and his wife; Mrs. General E. G. Lee; Mrs. Margaret J. Preston; Mrs. W. H. F. Lee and her two boys; Captain Robert E. Lee; W. W. Corcoran Esq., of Washington; Father Ryan, Colonel T. M. R. Talcott and Colonel H. E. Peyton, former members of General Lee's staff; Colonel William Allan of Stonewall Jackson's old staff; Colonel William H. Palmer, of General A. P. Hill's staff; the Trustees and Faculty of Washington and Lee University, and the Virginia Military Institute; and a number of others too numerous to mention. The beautiful little daughter of Major Daniel who held his crutch, handed him water, and wiped his brow, and fanned him when he was through with his great oration, was ‘the observed of all observers.’

The scene during the delivery of Major Daniel's address, as one looked from the platform over the vast throng, was grand and inspiring beyond description. The vast sea of upturned faces, the beaming countenance, the starting tear, the enthusiastic applause, of age, youth, dignity, beauty, and chivalry gathered to hear our noble orator speak of our peerless chieftain, all combined to form a scene which has become historic, and which will linger forever in the memory of all who witnessed it.

After the cheers which greeted the conclusion of Major Daniel's oration had subsided, General Early called out Father Ryan, ‘the Poet-Priest of the South,’ who was received with enthusiastic applause, and recited in admirable style his famous poem on ‘The Sword of Lee.’

In a letter to the N. O. Times-Democrat, Father Ryan has thus described the scene:

‘At noon, or a little after, General Early, who presided in the [415] absence of General Joseph E. Johnston, called the assemblage to order, and introduced the orator of the day, Major Daniel. He rose amid deafening cheers—a man strikingly handsome, with soul-power in his face. He combines in face and manner the powers of Edwin Booth and John McCullough, the actors. He began his oration in a simple yet striking way, alluding to the home of Lee before the war. His power of description is strong. It was only the preface to a glorious oration. He rose as he proceeded, as a man who is climbing the slopes of a mountain to see the setting sun when he reaches its summit. And his hearers followed him. Halfway up the slope of his oration he seemed to rest, but you could see in his face and hear in the tremor of his voice and his graceful swaying gestures, that he rested for a purpose. I think it was the glory-hour of his address. When he flung back his classic head, and alluded to President Davis, with his heart in his voice, and in words that were royal, he stilled the crowd for a few minutes, but when he closed his glorious eulogy on him who suffered vicariously for every Confederate man, woman and child, and who is still disfranchised by the Federal government, the stillness was broken by such grand thunders of applause that the orator was obliged to pause. It was the grand southern amen to words grand as they were, and grandly spoken of a man grander than any words. Some eyes were moist with tears then—tributes to our President, who suffered for us all. God bless him. The orator went on, rising higher and higher in his eloquence, and when he concluded there was one man in that audience who said to himself, “The orator equals the occasion.” Then General Early. His words were brief, but he commanded your humble servant to come forward and face a crowd already entranced with glorious eloquence. I obeyed, said a few words, recited the “Sword of Robert Lee,” and stole away. Stonewall Jackson's daughter, Julia, unveiled the statue. Crowds went in and came out, and the faces of most were sad. Clouds were gathering away over on the mountains. The sun went down, and Lexington will never see such a day again, because the world will never know another Robert Lee.’

At the close of Father Ryan's recitation, a procession was formed on the platform, which was headed by General Early and Major Daniel, Judge McLaughlin, and Mr. Edward V. Valentine, and Professor J. J. White, and Mr. J. Crawford Neilson, followed by other distinguished visitors, soldiers, professors, divines, students and citizens generally, which passed through the chapel into the [416] mausoleum, where Miss Julia Jackson withdrew the curtains which unveiled to the delighted gaze of all ‘Majesty in repose,’ ‘Sweet rest,’ ‘Marse Robert asleep,’ as different ones exclaimed on beholding this splendid creation of Valentine's genius.

Just as the curtains were withdrawn, the famous old ‘Rockbridge Artillery,’ stationed on the College campus near by, fired a salute with the very same guns (the ‘Cadet Battery,’ which ‘Major Jackson’ used to command when a Professor in the Virginia Military Institute), with which on the field of First Manassas, they helped to win for the old brigade and its grand leader the immortal soubriquet of ‘Stonewall.’

It was a touching scene to witness the greetings of the veteran survivors of this grand old battery, whose prowess had illustrated well nigh every battle-field of the Army of Northern Virginia from Falling Waters in 1861 to Appomattox Courthouse in 1865. Among those present on this occasion were noted:

Colonel McLaughlin, Colonel W. T. Poague, Sergeants S. C. Smith, D. E. Moore, J. E. McCauley, Corporals William M. Wilson and William N. Bumpass, of Kentucky. Privates T. M. Wade, W. C. Estill, Joseph F. Shaner, W. F. Johnston, Jack Witerow, Alfred Good, E. A. Moore, Calvin Stuart, W. S. McClintic, of Missouri, J. F. Tompkins, R. E. Lee, James A. Ford, T. E. McCorkle, John Williams, and D. Gardner Tyler. Colonel Poague commanded the battery, the cadets forming three sides of a square around the guns to keep back the crowd.

The programme being carried out at the chapel, the vast crowd dispersed. There was spread on the College grounds a collation to which all were invited, and the houses of the President of the University (General G. W. C. Lee), the Professors generally, and a large number of citizens, were crowded with guests invited to partake of elegant lunches, or more properly, splendid banquets. In a word, Lexington did everything in her power to make the occasion a success, fully sustained her reputation for princely hospitality, and proved herself worthy to have been the home and to hold the graves of Lee and Jackson.

The committees and all concerned are to be cordially congratulated on the splendid success of their programme on this grand historic occasion.

The Marylanders spent the afternoon and evening in serenading General G. W. C. Lee, Hon. J. R. Tucker, ex-Governor John Letcher, Mrs. Jackson and Miss Julia, Mrs. Stuart and others, and [417] they received universal praise for their soldierly appearance and manly bearing. They deserve especial credit for coming at so great inconvenience, and they attracted great attention wherever they went.