Gen. R. E. Lee and Staff ... [Large mounted albumen photograph of General Robert E. Lee, George Washington Custis Lee, and Walter Herron Taylor, Signed by Lee on the mount]
- SIGNED Albumen photograph on the photographer's mount with printed title as above, Signed on the mount at the lower right ("R. E. Lee")
- Richmond, VA [printed Washington, D.C.]: Brady & Co, 1865
Richmond, VA [printed Washington, D.C.]: Brady & Co, 1865. Albumen photograph on the photographer's mount with printed title as above, Signed on the mount at the lower right ("R. E. Lee"). Approx. 8-1/2x6-7/8 inches (image size), 10x8 inches (overall). Very minor silvering to the image, otherwise with dark tones and largely unfaded. Mount slightly trimmed along right side. Provenance: a descendant of Reynolds Tarr, who served in the Army of Northern Virginia; Property of a Lady (sold Christie's New York, May 17, 1991, lot 215); Gilder Lehrman Collection, deaccessioned 2026. Albumen photograph on the photographer's mount with printed title as above, Signed on the mount at the lower right ("R. E. Lee"). Approx. 8-1/2x6-7/8 inches (image size), 10x8 inches (overall). One of the most remarkable of all existing images of Lee and VERY RARE signed.
Taken only days after his surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, this iconic photograph by Mathew Brady depicts the Confederate General seated and wearing the uniform in which he surrendered, flanked on either side by his son George Washington Custis Lee and aide Walter Herron Taylor. Taken at Lee's estate in Richmond, Virginia in April of 1865, it is described by historian Robert Wilson: "...the hatless general's head is squarely centered in front of the crossed rails of a panel door, suggesting Christ on the cross to those for whom Lee would become a powerful symbol of the martyred South. Lee posed right after Lincoln's death, perhaps in an effort to introduce a sense of calm to a volatile time....". Matthew Brady took a total of six photographs of the defeated Commander on the back porch of Lee's house, "Brook Hill," on Franklin Street in Richmond, where he had retired in the wake of the surrender.
Matthew Brady was in Petersburg when news of the surrender broke. Immediately proceeding to Appomattox they found the site already abandoned, so followed Lee to Richmond. "'It was supposed,' he told one of the war correspondents, 'that it would be preposterous to ask him to sit, but I thought it would be the time for a historical picture.'" (Meredith, p. 64). Initially refused, Brady appealed to his friend General Robert Quld, Federal Commissioner of Prisoners, who prevailed on Mrs. R. E. Lee, who in turn convinced the General to agree to pose.
The next day, Brady was permitted to come to the Franklin Street house and was allowed one hour in which to photograph Lee. Brady took six pictures, only five of which survive, with two of them depicting Lee seated on the house's back porch. "There was little conversation, Brady said later, though Lee changed his position readily under the photographer's direction; he was still the soldier going through with what he must do. But the camera has caught his true feelings. The tense strain of war is still upon him, and he is here facing up to another ordeal. His bearing is closely controlled. . . his gaze is sharply direct; but in all the pictures his eyes are shadowed with suffering, his jaw is set. It is a remarkable group of photographs" (Meredith).
We know of only one other example of this photograph signed by Lee. Roy Meredith, The Face of Robert E. Lee, New York, 1947, pp. 64-69; Mr. Lincoln's Camera Man, pp. 195-196, 368, cover illustration and pl. 114
Taken only days after his surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, this iconic photograph by Mathew Brady depicts the Confederate General seated and wearing the uniform in which he surrendered, flanked on either side by his son George Washington Custis Lee and aide Walter Herron Taylor. Taken at Lee's estate in Richmond, Virginia in April of 1865, it is described by historian Robert Wilson: "...the hatless general's head is squarely centered in front of the crossed rails of a panel door, suggesting Christ on the cross to those for whom Lee would become a powerful symbol of the martyred South. Lee posed right after Lincoln's death, perhaps in an effort to introduce a sense of calm to a volatile time....". Matthew Brady took a total of six photographs of the defeated Commander on the back porch of Lee's house, "Brook Hill," on Franklin Street in Richmond, where he had retired in the wake of the surrender.
Matthew Brady was in Petersburg when news of the surrender broke. Immediately proceeding to Appomattox they found the site already abandoned, so followed Lee to Richmond. "'It was supposed,' he told one of the war correspondents, 'that it would be preposterous to ask him to sit, but I thought it would be the time for a historical picture.'" (Meredith, p. 64). Initially refused, Brady appealed to his friend General Robert Quld, Federal Commissioner of Prisoners, who prevailed on Mrs. R. E. Lee, who in turn convinced the General to agree to pose.
The next day, Brady was permitted to come to the Franklin Street house and was allowed one hour in which to photograph Lee. Brady took six pictures, only five of which survive, with two of them depicting Lee seated on the house's back porch. "There was little conversation, Brady said later, though Lee changed his position readily under the photographer's direction; he was still the soldier going through with what he must do. But the camera has caught his true feelings. The tense strain of war is still upon him, and he is here facing up to another ordeal. His bearing is closely controlled. . . his gaze is sharply direct; but in all the pictures his eyes are shadowed with suffering, his jaw is set. It is a remarkable group of photographs" (Meredith).
We know of only one other example of this photograph signed by Lee. Roy Meredith, The Face of Robert E. Lee, New York, 1947, pp. 64-69; Mr. Lincoln's Camera Man, pp. 195-196, 368, cover illustration and pl. 114
Details
Title
Gen. R. E. Lee and Staff ... [Large mounted albumen photograph of General Robert E. Lee, George Washington Custis Lee, and Walter Herron Taylor, Signed by Lee on the mount]
Author
(Lee, Robert E) Brady, Mathew; photographer
Binding
Albumen photograph on the photographer's mount with printed title as above, Signed on the mount at the lower right ("R. E. Lee")
Condition
New
Publisher
Brady & Co: Richmond, VA [printed Washington, D.C.]
Date
1865