News

Biltmore conservator to clean Wolfe's Angel

By Bill Moss, Published: October 5, 2016

Wolfe’s Angel, the most prominent monument in the city’s historic Oakdale Cemetery, is getting a fall cleaning.

The city’s Historic Preservation Commission authorized a conservator from the Biltmore Estate to do the work this month before cold weather makes it impossible.
Since it was last cleaned six years ago, the Carrara marble work has grown darker from exposure to car exhaust and other elements.
“You can also clearly see the damage to the angel’s right wrist and the corner of the statue’s base in the first photo,” Emily Sisler, a city planner and Historic Preservation Commission coordinator, said in an email. “Other causes for concern that will be thoroughly investigated during the project are the finger pointing skyward and the star on her head/crown (both of which were broken and repaired at some point in the past).”
The angel was erected at Oakdale in 1905 by William O. Wolfe, Thomas Wolfe’s father. Although not created by Wolfe, the piece was displayed on the porch of his Pack Square marble workshop in Asheville as an advertisement for his business, according to the National Register of Historic Places. Wolfe sold it to the daughter of Margaret Bates Johnson (1832-1905), whose grave it majestically marks.
“This monumental angel rises from the cemetery’s 1885 white section as a guardian and celestial being that serves as a connection between God and humans,” the National Register researchers wrote.
More than 15 feet tall, she holds a lily in her left hand and points up with her right.
Warren’s proposal for cleaning the sculpture is detailed. She will use a special detergent, soft brushes to clean the marble and bamboo skewers to delicately remove debris around details and inscriptions. She will then rinse the angel, apply a mild cleaning solution and gently scrub. She’ll repeat the process “until all loose biological growth is removed.”
She will also provide an assessment for a second phase, repairing the angel’s wings, star and finger, which have been broken in the past.