A brilliantly colorized version of the famous portrait by Matthew Brady — from the amazing web site Colorized History.
Lee is such a mythological figure in American history that it sometimes seems surprising that that are any photographs of him at all. Seeing him in the flesh would have been a major life experience — “Virgil, quick come see, there goes Robert E. Lee”. This image is probably as close as we can come to the experience today.
Click on the image to enlarge.
It’s a combination of a thin-lipped mouth hidden in a beard, along with eyes that have seen far more than most mortals can fathom.
Reminds me of two people I dearly love (you figure it out)
XXX,
Ad’n
Beyond imagination, what those eyes saw.
Note what looks like a floor lamp behind his size 4 1/2 shoes – I think it’s actually the bottom of a head brace that clamps to the back of his neck to hold his head still for the long exposure times required by the photographic emulsions of the day.
Very likely, Charles.