albumen cabinet photo of General Robert E. Lee from the original portrait from life painted in Richmond in late 1864 by Edward Caledon Bruce, showing Lee in pensive stance by cannon's wheel with Traveller in the background, unique in that it reproduces a notation at the bottom from the artist's own hand, 9-1/4 x 5-3/8 in. and mounted to slightly larger backing

Provenance: From the Collection of Rob and Jane Hicklin

Note:

Edward Caledon Bruce’s celebrated portrait of Robert E. Lee was painted in Petersburg and Richmond during the winter months of 1864. Completed in time for exhibition at the State Capitol in February 1865, the impressive full-length portrait was met with considerable acclaim by the Confederate officers and soldiers who gathered to view it.

Fortunately, several enterprising photographers of the day recognized the importance of preserving the image and produced photographs for sale. Among them was Richmond publisher George Langhorne Bidgood, whose copies helped ensure that Bruce’s portrait would survive in photographic form. When the painting later traveled to New York and Montreal for exhibition, it continued to attract considerable attention and public interest.

The original portrait is known to have survived into the late nineteenth century, when it was owned by New York businessman Charles Broadway Rouss. After that, however, its trail disappears. The painting has not been seen since and is presumed to have been lost or destroyed.

Today, the only way we can experience Bruce’s impressive full-length portrait of Lee is through the surviving photographic images - such as the example offered here.