Robert E. Lee was an international celebrity during and after the Civil War. And like celebrities in every time, Lee’s picture became a collectible. Small carte-de-visite photographs were produced, in the South and the North, and sold as souvenirs. Many of the ones in the North were based on photographs taken from life by Mathew Brady. In the South, Lee was not merely a celebrity but a revered hero, and there was a great demand for photographs of him.

Offered here is a very fine, signed CDV (carte de viste) photograph of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in uniform. The image is focused and has perfect contrast. The three stars on his collar stand out very well. The “R.E. Lee” ink signature remains bold. The mount is in fine condition and untrimmed. Mount has typical gold rule border with “Bendann” and “Baltimore” printed along the bottom edge. The artistic Bendann back mark is on the back side with a blue revenue stamp. This image it believed to have been recorded late 1862 or early 1863.

Daniel Bendann with his brother David were Civil War-era photographers known for their elegant photographic backgrounds. Daniel founded their gallery, Bendann Brothers, in 1859. By the 1860s they were one of the largest photographic studios south of Philadelphia and the largest Jewish-owned studio in the country. They took portraits of many well-known individuals including Edgar Allan Poe, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Presidents Buchanan and Hayes, and Johns Hopkins.

One of the finest R.E. Lee photographs, and signed too!  [jet][ph:L]

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