The Last Meeting of Lee and Jackson.
Engraving after painting by Everett B.D. Fabrino Julio (1843-1879)
Late 19th century

Original and early engraving titled “The Last Meeting of Lee and Jackson”, after the original epic painting by Everett B.D. Fabrino Julio. Julio, a young European immigrant, adopted the American South as his home and set out to become a renowned artist. He worked for a time in St. Louis, Missouri, where he completed “The Last Meeting” some four years after the Confederate Army surrendered at Appomattox. Julio intended to exhibit his massive 6’ x 9’ painting across the south, and by doing so expected to raise enough money to both cover his costs and present the original to Gen. Robert E. Lee. While warmly received by critics, the plan did not bear fruit. That said, engravings of “The Last Meeting” sold well and were regularly displayed in southern homes as a way to honor their military icons. This well-preserved and tastefully framed example depicts Julio’s highly romanticized version of a reported meeting between Gen. Robert E. Lee and Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson on the eve of the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia in May 1863. Considered Lee’s greatest tactical victory of the Civil War, it cost Jackson his life after he was accidentally shot by his own men. While considerably more grandiose than the actual meeting between the South's top military commanders - Lee and Jackson were said to have been seated on repurposed cracker boxes - Julio's vision fed directly into the postwar South's desire to aggrandize their fallen military heroes.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Art, Engravings, Prints, Lithographs, Ephemera]