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Mann S. Valentine Sr. (1786-1865), his son Mann S.
Valentine II (1824-1892) and grandson Granville Valentine (1860-1943) exemplify
the Valentine Museum’s theme that people create their own histories by
what they chose to save and collect. As exhibit curator Jane Webb Smith
explains, “The individual histories people developed were often transformed into
museums.” Certainly the Valentines were collectors.
The senior Mann amassed a fine arts collection and
the next two generations gathered archeological material. Their
collections were exhibited privately and publicly. Granville took the
histories and the items his family collected and established the Valentine
Museum in 1898, then reorganized it in 1930.
Five interpretative periods in the history of the
Valentine family are covered in the exhibit “Creating History.” Over the
years the Valentine Museum changed its definition of culture and its
interpretation of history to reflect the changes in social assumptions and
interpretations of the past. Items from the collection of each generation
are included. Another exhibit showcases the Valentines’ nationally-acclaimed
costume and textile collection.
Valentine Museum docents also conduct tours of the
adjacent Wickham House. John Wickham, prominent Richmond attorney,
had this elegant neoclassical, 17-room mansion built on the highest hill in the
city in 1812 at a cost of $70,000. Now a National Historic Landmark,
the house has been restored to its 1820s splendor.
On entering the house you'll see 18-inch brick walls
overlaid with stucco to look like marble. The cantilevered staircase winds
upward to an opening shaped like an artist's palette. The banister is
carved with magnolia seed pods, dogwood blossoms and periwinkle. The oval
ladies' parlor is unusually beautiful. On its walls are paintings of
scenes from Homer's Iliad, done during Wickham's residency and
subsequently overpainted. Only recently discovered, they have been
carefully uncovered and restored. The restoration also re-created mantels
of carved Italian marble and period window treatments.
Mr. Wickham conducted his law practice from his very
masculine library. His most famous case was the successful defense of
Aaron Burr in his trial for treason before Chief Justice Marshall at the
Virginia State Capitol. The dining room has the original Wickham porcelain
dining service, that arrived intact from China in 1814.
The grandeur on the first floor is not matched on
the second floor. The upstairs rooms were bedrooms and work space for the
31 people who lived in the house (the extended family and servants). It
was here that Mrs. Wickham bore many of her 17 children. There are also
work areas in the basement.
The garden is the oldest in continuous use in
Richmond. It is maintained in accordance with the original landscape
specifications. Within the garden you'll find the sculpture studio of
Edward V. Valentine, a noted 19th-century artist and brother of Mann Valentine.
You'll see the tools of his trade and both completed and unfinished work.
Valentine's best known piece is the "Recumbent Lee" in the Lee Chapel on the
Washington and Lee University campus (see selection).
The Valentine, the Museum of the Life and History of
Richmond, and Wickham House are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 A.M. to
5:00 P.M. and Sunday from NOON to 5:00 P.M. Admission is charged but block
tickets can be purchased as part of a Court End Tour that includes the Marshall
House, Brockenbrough House (White House of the Confederacy) and Wickham House
(see selections).
Now that you have a perspective on Richmond’s past,
walk down 9th Street to City Hall and take the elevator to the Skydeck.
From here you get a great view of the city and can enjoy lunch at
umbrella-shaded tables.
Directions: From
I-95 take Exit 74C, Broad Street west. Continue on Broad Street to 11th
Street, then turn right. Follow 11th Street to Clay Street and turn left.
Make another left on 10th Street and the Valentine Museum parking lot will be on
your left. From I-64 take Exit 43, 5th Street south. Continue on 5th
to Marshall Street and take a left. From Marshall take another left on
11th and left again on Clay Street. Make a last left on 10th Street and
the parking lot will be on your left.
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