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Summary:
This handsome bronze bust is from the original terra cotta design, sculpted by Volck from life. Rests on an octagonal base atop black marble. The front is titled “Robert E. Lee” and an inscription on the base reads “Frederick Volck, 1863, Richmond, VA.” [Robert E. Lee]. Bronze Bust, by Frederick Volck. Richmond, VA. 1863. 19” tall, approximately 50 pounds. Inventory# 20541 $10,000
Frederick Volck (1833-1891), a native of Nuremburg, Germany, emigrated to Richmond, Virginia, and was later employed in the Confederate Naval Ordnance Department. Volck executed a statue of Lee and a statue of Lee and his horse Traveller in 1863. He is also remembered for his busts of Jefferson Davis and “Stonewall” Jackson, and an example of the latter remains in the dining room of the Confederate White House in Richmond.
Historical Background:
In defeat and especially in death, Robert E. Lee was enshrined by postwar southern writers as the hero of the “lost cause,” an ultimate Christian warrior with few imperfections who carried the South, despite overwhelming disparities in men, money, and materiel, to the brink of victory. Lee’s moniker, “the marble man,” came from another sculpture completed in 1875, five years after his death.
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