Signed Photograph

Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.: Brady & Co. 1869 8 1/8 x 6 1/8 Inches. An imposing photographic portrait SIGNED BY ROBERT E. LEE, (R E Lee) at the foot of an albumen-print by Brady. Mounted on a photographer's mat with the gilt imprint of Brady's Washington studio, autograph presentation endorsement on the verso by Confederate General Gilbert Moxley Sorrel. "The finest portrait of General Lee and Brady's best effor": a fine veignette portrait of the great general. Lee is facing left. This is one of three portraits made by Brady during Lee's brief visit to Washington in 1869, during which he had a breif interview at the White House with his former adversary the President Ulysses S. Grant. General Sorrel's endoresment on the verso of the mat records the early provenance of the photograph: "This photograph of the Confederate commander-in-chief is passed by one of his soldiers to Lieut. Co. Molyneux, an appreciative admirer of the great General and a friend of G.M. Sorrel, Late Brig. General Army N. Virginia, Savannah, May 2nd 1891." Molyneux may have been a Briiish officer who, early in his military career, had served as an observer during the American Civil War. Ref: "The Face of Lee", pp 78-81. Provenance: Collected by Archibald Phillip Primrose, fifth Earl of Rosebery, Prime Minister 1894-1895. Professionally framed and matted..