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Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Robert E. Lee

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Robert E. Lee

edit
 
Original
 
Dust, scratches, text(?) removed by Thegreenj
Reason
An outstanding image from among Brady's large collection of Civil War photography. I particularly like the contrast between his gray jacket and the darker background. The image fits within all the required technical parameters.
Proposed caption
Confederate General Robert E. Lee poses in a February 1865 portrait taken by Mathew Brady. Lee's surrender to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865, two months after this portrait was taken, marked the end of the American Civil War.
Articles this image appears in
Confederate States of America, Robert E. Lee, Notable graduates of West Point.
Creator
Mathew Brady
Support either, preference for Edit - looks to be a good job by thegreenj, I can't pick up any loss of image quality. --jjron 08:15, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Mathew Brady was American, what can you do? Is there a comparable non-American portrait photographer whose works are in the public domain? If so, by all means tell us so that the person's works can be considered for FP status. Spikebrennan 10:42, 31 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
As I said in my original vote Lee is a “genuinely significant historical figure”. In fact I would regard him as being in the top half-dozen figures in American history (at least its political history, even if he was on the wrong side), and in say the top twenty military leaders in world history. I have no issue with there being an FP of him, or in fact with most of the other historical portrait FPs, especially when they are a quality photo like this. I do have a bit of an issue with some nominations I have seen that seem to have little more to recommend them than that they are an old photo of someone of minor fame who is now dead, and perhaps that the photograph was taken by a now famous photographer (such as Brady). As I wrote my original comment I in fact thought along a similar line to you, i.e., whether any other countries had readily available public domain sources of these type of historical photos. Picture Australia is a great free source of general historical photos for Australia, including some portraits, but I am unsure on whether they could be freely and legally used on Wikipedia. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my own photos, and finding time to upload and place them in articles, without worrying about hunting down other people’s photos, no matter how worthy they may be. --jjron 08:18, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • weak oppose as the subject, there isn't very much pixelage dedicated to Lee, also seems a bit high contrasty, and I don't know what to make of the background which looks torched. Debivort

  Weak Support If someone removed the dust I'd switch to full support. I'd do it myself but just haven't the time --Fir0002 07:49, 31 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Support edit per all above.--HereToHelp 19:46, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support edit. Encyclopedic high-quality image of highly notable historical figure. (We can deal with balancing out us Americans by finding more photos of non-Americans.) Small question; even the edit has a very dark background, especially behind the chair, probably a combination of shadow and dark Victorian varnish. I tried to play with the image gamma a little but that always washes out Lee's face. Can anyone lighten that area so it doesn't look "burnt" per Debivort, without affecting the overall image? --Dhartung | Talk 15:47, 5 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Robert E. Lee, 1865 (edit).jpg MER-C 09:33, 6 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

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