Boy with Musical Instrument - Fredericksburg VA - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

A concrete statue of a young boy with a musical instrument (according to the Smithsonian Art Inventory database) stands on a concrete base in the gardens at Chatham Manor across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, VA. The boy is looking over his right shoulder as he holds the instrument which is nearly as tall with his left arm at his left side. His right arm reaches across his chest to touch it. A loosely draped piece of cloth encircles his waist and is tied in a knot above his right knee. The statue stands on a base with a flower motif. The sculptor is unknown. It is listed from c. 1930.

Chatham Manor was originally built in the late 1700s. It went through several owners and changes over the next 150 years, including devastating damage during the Civil War, until the 1920s when Daniel and Helen Devore bought the property and began its restoration. They hired a landscape architect who extensively used statuary on the grounds, most notably in the gardens as accents and to draw visitors along the paths.¹

According to Chatham a landscape introduction, the National Park Service acquired Chatham in 1976. Many of the lawn ornaments and statues were put up for auction since the NPS only considered structures prior to 1863 to be of historical significance. The Boy with Musical Instrument is listed in the Southeby's auction catalog as one of a pair of stone statues of nude amors who hold shields.² In the 1980s, the NPS began a restoration of the gardens under Reed Engle, their regional landscape architect. He sourced many replacement statues from Kenneth Lynch & Sons who supplied the originals to the Devores. The current Boy with Musical Instrument or more accurately, Nude Amor is probably one of the replacements since it is made from concrete and not stone, which would make it from 50 years later than listed by SIRIS.

Chatham is open daily from 9 AM to 4:30 PM. Admission is free.

¹ Gardens lost in time « HORTUS 2
² Chatham a landscape introduction, pg. 102

TITLE: (Boy with Musical Instrument) ARTIST(S): Unknown DATE: c. 1930 MEDIUM: Concrete CONTROL NUMBER: IAS VA000053 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: In the gardens at Chatham: 120 Chatham Lane Fredericksburg, VA 22405 DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: The boy is holding a shield and not a musical instrument and is named a nude amor. The original statue (of which there were 2) was probably prior to 1930, but it may have been sold in auction. The replacement would be from c. 1980. The source of the original statuary and replacements was Kenneth Lynch & Sons.

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