Putto

The figure of a chubby nude boy, or putto, is a bronze copy of an original wooden sculpture that Gari Melchers and his wife Corinne, brought with them to Belmont from their Holland garden. The stone plinth that supports the putto was purchased by the Melchers from the ruins of the 18th-century mansion Mannsfield, about two miles south of Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River. Mannsfield burned during the Civil War, and the salvaged stone was sold early in the 20th century. Additional Mannsfield stone was used on the property for path, walls, and a similar plinth that supports the eagle statue.

Corinne Melchers was a founding member of the Rappahannock Valley Garden Club, a Garden Club of Virginia (GCV) affiliated club, and an active member of the committee that oversaw the restoration of the gardens at both Kenmore in Fredericksburg, and Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County. The GCV is now supporting the restoration of Gari and Corinne Melchers’ garden at Belmont. 

In 2008, the restoration committee of the Garden Club began the process to restore the wooden sculpture and commissioned Ross Caudill, foundry technician and adjunct faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University, to produce a copy of the original putto and stonemason Richard Crickenberger to repair its pedestal.