Lot Essay
Brady was the third photographer in a span of 15 years permitted a
portrait sitting with General Lee; after several refusals, the sitting was finally granted through the intercession of General Robert Ould, Commissioner of Prisons, and Mrs. Robert E. Lee. Lee is flanked on his right by his son, General George Washington Custis Lee and Colonel Walter H. Taylor on his left.
In reply to a request by Frederick Hill Meserve of Colonel Walter Taylor concerning the portrait sitting, Taylor wrote on March 22, 1915: After the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, at Appomattox, General Lee went to Richmond and resumed the occupancy of the residence on Franklin Street owned by Mr. John Stuart. While there, a Mr. Brady, who had a photographic studio in Washington and one in New York, visited the General and requested him to pose for his photograph. Several pictures were taken of the general and Mr. Brady then requested that he be allowed to take a group. He preferred to go out of doors, and this photograph was taken in the yard, just in the rear of the house. In the original the picture of General Lee is excellent.(from correspondence acquired in 1988 by the Worcester Art Museum between Frederick Hill Meserve and Colonel Walter H. Taylor, March 20 and March 22, 1915.)
Lee is photographed here for the last time in military uniform, the one he had worn to the surrender. This image is supposedly the second of a total of 6 plates taken by Brady in the hour allotted. Not until Lee's visit to General Grant at the White House in 1869 did Brady again have the opportunity to photograph him, this time, in civilian attire.
Autographed photographs of Robert E. Lee are rare.
portrait sitting with General Lee; after several refusals, the sitting was finally granted through the intercession of General Robert Ould, Commissioner of Prisons, and Mrs. Robert E. Lee. Lee is flanked on his right by his son, General George Washington Custis Lee and Colonel Walter H. Taylor on his left.
In reply to a request by Frederick Hill Meserve of Colonel Walter Taylor concerning the portrait sitting, Taylor wrote on March 22, 1915: After the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, at Appomattox, General Lee went to Richmond and resumed the occupancy of the residence on Franklin Street owned by Mr. John Stuart. While there, a Mr. Brady, who had a photographic studio in Washington and one in New York, visited the General and requested him to pose for his photograph. Several pictures were taken of the general and Mr. Brady then requested that he be allowed to take a group. He preferred to go out of doors, and this photograph was taken in the yard, just in the rear of the house. In the original the picture of General Lee is excellent.(from correspondence acquired in 1988 by the Worcester Art Museum between Frederick Hill Meserve and Colonel Walter H. Taylor, March 20 and March 22, 1915.)
Lee is photographed here for the last time in military uniform, the one he had worn to the surrender. This image is supposedly the second of a total of 6 plates taken by Brady in the hour allotted. Not until Lee's visit to General Grant at the White House in 1869 did Brady again have the opportunity to photograph him, this time, in civilian attire.
Autographed photographs of Robert E. Lee are rare.