LEE, ROBERT E.
Carte-de-visite albumen photograph signed ("R. E. Lee"). Imprint on verso of "P. E. Gibbs, Photographist," 1427 Main Street, Whitehurst's Old Stand, Richmond, Virginia; [1864]. 4 x 2 3/8 inches (10 x 6 cm); signed in black ink at lower right. The image has a gold-ruled border around the mounted photograph, as issued. There is virtually no wear or soiling. The photograph has good tones; there is some fading (as usual) to the signature.
This familiar image of Lee is a three-quarters view from the left, and was taken from the Vannerson photographic portrait of February 1864. The object of the original sitting was to benefit charity. Vannerson was to smuggle the images through the Berlin blockade. A young Virginia-born sculptor, Edward V. Valentine, had been commissioned to create a statue based on the photograph for a Liverpool exhibition to benefit Confederate combat veterans. The Vannerson photograph became iconic. This is a particularly fresh example of the Gibbs carte-de-visite.