[LEE, Robert E. (1807-1870)]. Possibly one of the last portraits taken of Robert E. Lee. Ca late 1860s.

4 3/4 x 3 3/4 in. vignetted photographic portrait of Robert E. Lee with what appears to be Lee's facsimile signature below, signed lower right, "Edmonston." Housed in 6 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. oval frame with label on reverse from "Edmonston Studio, Washington / Photography and Framing." (Some soiling/spotting to perimeter of print, unexamined outside frame, light wear to frame.)

A post-war portrait of Robert E. Lee, nearly identical to a pose published in Roy Meredith's book, The Face of Robert E. Lee in Life and in Legend (p. 83). Meredith describes the view as "one of the only two photographs of Robert E. Lee which show him in sharply defined right profile." Meredith continues, "Mr. D.W. Thomas, president of the Chesapeake Western Railway, believes it to have been the last one taken." The photograph may have been taken during the same sitting as another view of Lee produced by Boude and Miley of Lexington, VA, which has also been identified as Lee's last picture (see Meredith, p. 84).