Lillian Marro died December 9th, 2014, and the time has come for Don Marro to part with what made their life together such a pleasure. Their beautiful Middleburg estate, set in the rolling hills of Hunt Country will soon reveal its secrets.

Here is a small part of the history of the Marros and a peak into the collection they gathered worldwide over the last 30 plus years.

Donald Marro has his roots in the New York metropolitan area and Lillian Diane Svec Clancy Marro was from Cicero, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago best known by some as the place where Al Capone lay low for a while in the '20's.

Lillian was from a family of musicians and she was a classically trained string bass player good enough to be invited to join the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Lillian continued her schooling at Northwestern, never joined the orchestra, but instead accompanied her new husband to the Presidio in San Francisco where he was stationed with the United States Navy.

Lillian began her family but a later a divorce resulted in a and new career, which found Lillian operating her own firm specializing first in technology and ultimately biotechnology recruiting.

Clancy Associates was arguably the best of the six largest firms in biotechnology recruiting, so much so that Lillian was invited to help develop and establish a biotechnology sector in Britain to rival that of the United States.

Don met Lillian on a recruiting assignment. When he moved to California, he courted Lillian. They were together with from 1983, marrying in 1991.

Don's business interests took him regularly to France and Switzerland, Lillian often accompanying him, and on one such trip she nicknamed Don "Monsieur Cassis" for the bottle of cassis he broke in a rental car trunk.

Art and furnishing acquisitions began soon after Lillian and Don were together in San Francisco. By 2006, their collection numbered nearly 1,000 pieces, ranging from the whimsical to the breathtaking, including a great many artists with memorable style, talent for color and visual daring. Some are now deceased, John Ash and Aaron Birnbaum, for instance, but many more are still active, like Barbara Sparhawk, Valentin Popov and Dona Dalton. Great local artists are likewise represented, like Alan Rubin, Mark Miller and Elsa Rosenthal, Rosemary Gallick, Jennifer Duncan and Paul Zdepski.

One of the artists whose work is well represented is Barbara Sparhawk. Barbara began painting at age 15 when she was an apprentice in the Laguna Beach Playhouse where Marlo Thomas first performed. Barbara was commissioned by the playhouse to prepare a portrait of "Harvey", a rabbit in a tux. From there she went on to portrait work, including that of William F. Buckley, worked in the Ashcan School style, and did bold and colorful pieces like the Carmel, California, scenes and the Pope of Greenwich Village homage in the collection.

Valentin Popov is a Russian-born artist whose St. Batman series found particular favor in this collection. Popov's work from this period blended iconography with a comic book panache.

John Ash was also a favorite and quintessentially English, a roamer who painted snowy scenes in Brighton as well as he painted boules in Paris. Ash was commissioned by the owners to capture Edward Hopper-like scenes but in an English setting. The results are quite clever.

Aaron Birnbaum was a Ukrainian-born artist whose art reflects Eastern European origins and harmonizes perfectly with Lillian's forebears from Lithuania and Bohemia. The farm and early 20th century urban representations by Birnbaum will strike a responsive chord with anyone whose families came here around that time.

Alan Rubin is a magnificent local artist whose imagination is equaled by his technical skill. Rubin's works in the collection include commissioned portraits of the Marro/Clancy dogs and of Marro's parents. His other works are pure Rubin and are unmistakable as a consequence.

Rosemary Gallick is a Professor of Art and Art History at Northern Virginia Community College with a B.A. from the SUNY Stony Brook in Art, an M.F.A. from Pratt Institute in New York, and a Master's in Communication from Cornell University. She has published numerous articles and given various presentations on art and popular culture. Her art has been in numerous exhibitions in the United States and in this collection her pieces depict show business celebrities.

Jennifer Duncan says of her work, "My paintings began as abstract work, guided by line, shape and composition. I allow myself to play, and find the paintings revealing themselves to me as I build and take away layers of color to reveal a rustic and painterly surface. I love to incorporate found objects, and I'm always on the hunt for antique postcards or letters that will add intrigue to my painting's story

Several "in the manner of" pieces from Caravaggio and Rembrandt will catch your fancy as will Toots Shor-style caricatures of Nixon, Sinatra, Hope and FDR by Howard Allen. As if this wasn't enough, there are whirligigs, penguins, a Dona Dalton sphinx and other sculptures to satisfy the appetite for things Americana and things whimsical.

Altogether a the Marro Estate is a museum and altogether a feast for the eyes.

Art is displayed throughout the house. Art covers the walls in every available space, on cabinets, doors and greeting visitors on the drive leading to the house itself. The effect is visual exuberance with an eclectic blend of artistic expression that deftly balances the fine art, local and hunt country art, outsider and primitive art and the unique furnishings. On the main level, the kitchen has bo

A private online sale to benefit Middleburg Humane began in early November at www.marrocollection.com.

Private viewings may be arranged for a $150 entrance fee and a public sale will be scheduled in April of 2016. To schedule a viewing appointment, please email contact@marrocollection.com.