General R.E. Lee and Staff
Artist
Mathew B. Brady
(American, 1823-1896)
CultureAmerican
DateApril 16, 1865
MediumAlbumen print on Brady & Co. mount
DimensionsOverall: 8 x 7 in. (20.3 x 17.8 cm)
Overall, Frame: 24 1/8 x 22 1/8 in. (61.3 x 56.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 24 1/8 x 22 1/8 in. (61.3 x 56.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of David L. Hack and Museum purchase, with funds from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., by exchange
Object number98.32.1
Collections
Not on view
DescriptionThe David L. Hack Civil War Photography Collection. This is a sepia toned photograph showing Robert E. Lee sitting in an armchair with two men flanking each side of General Lee. General Lee appears to be the eldest person in the photo with his white hair and beard while the men next to him have darker hair and beards. None of the men are smiling. They are all holding their hats. The man on his left is his son Custis and the man on his right is an aide Walter H Taylor. In the background is a brick building and large wooden door with window panes on both sides of the door. This is at his home in Richmond, Virginia. This is from Alexander Gardner, _Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War_ (New York: Dover Publications, 1959 and 1972) (Hack Collection No. 2].Label TextMathew B. Brady American, 1823−1896 General R. E. Lee and Staff, 1865 Albumen print (photograph) Immediately following the Confederacy’s surrender, Mathew Brady traveled to Richmond, Va., in hopes of photographing General Robert E. Lee (1807−1870). Lee did not like being photographed, but graciously granted Brady a one-hour sitting. A parlor chair was carried onto the back porch of Lee’s home, and the general once more donned his Confederate uniform. The soldier behind him with the full beard is his son General George Washington Custis Lee (1832−1913) and the other figure is his chief of staff, Colonel Walter Herron Taylor (1838−1916), a Norfolk native. Brady took the photograph on April 16, 1865, one day after Lincoln’s death. Gift of David L. Hack and Museum purchase, with funds from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., by exchange 98.32.1 Exhibition History"Civil War Photographs from the David L. Hack Collection and Civil War Redux: Pinhole Photographs by Willie Anne Wright," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, February 3 - October 29, 2006; Cape Fear Museum, Wilmington, NC, February 15 - May 28, 2007; Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV, July 26 - September 21, 2008. "The Civil War: Visual Perspectives, Then and Now," Waitzer Community Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, April 6 - July 24, 2011. "Shooting Lincoln: Photography and the 16th President," Chrysler Museum of Art, February 10 - July 5, 2015.Published ReferencesRoy Meredith, _The Face of Robert E. Lee in Life and in Legend_ (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1947), 62. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 105, fig. 125. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1
