Depictions of Robert E. Lee

These images appear in The Marble Man by Thomas Lawrence Connelly, which explores the various representations of Lee in portraits, photographs, sculptures, and monuments. Often referring to Lee’s admirers as a “cult,” Connelly explains how Lee’s image is glorified and deified through various narratives: “He became of God figure for Virginians, a saint for the white Protestant South, and a hero for the nation. To Virginians, he was the ultimate demonstration of superiority of their civilization. To the postwar South, he was the rationale of the Lost Cause, the proof of the argument that the righteous do not always prevail. And to the nation, Robert E. Lee became the tragic hero figure, who represented all that was good and noble in a bad cause."