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Exceptional 2.5 x 4.25 carte-de-visite photo of Robert E. Lee in a handsome bust-length pose, dressed in his Confederate uniform jacket with three stars on the collar, boldly signed in ink, "R. E. Lee." The reverse, bearing the backstamp of the Lee Photographic Gallery of Richmond, Virginia, is additionally signed and inscribed in ink by Lee’s wife, Mary Custis Lee, “Miss Smith, from her friend, Mary Custis Lee, Lexington, Nov. 18th, 1868.” In fine condition, with some very mild soiling. An exceptionally desirable signed image of Lee, further enhanced by the contemporary inscription of Mary Custis Lee on the reverse.
Known as the ‘floppy tie’ portrait, this is one of the enduring images of Robert E. Lee. It was a favorite of both the general and his wife, recognizable by his tousled hair, close-shaven beard, and drooping tie. Inscribed by Mary Custis Lee in Lexington on November 18, 1868, the photograph dates to Lee's postwar years as president of Washington College, less than two years before his death. In the epic study The Face of Robert E. Lee by Roy Meredith, the author observes: ‘In this picture Lee had begun to trim his beard shorter than had been his wont earlier in the war…Lee had worn a full beard for only three years…he seems to have come gradually to the habit of wearing it shorter…Throughout the rest of his life his beard will be seen much as it appears here.’
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