Abraham Lincoln (Healy)

Last updated
Abraham Lincoln
George P.A. Healy - Abraham Lincoln - Google Art Project.jpg
Artist George Peter Alexander Healy
Year1869
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions187.3 cm× 141.3 cm(73.7 in× 55.6 in)
Location State Dining Room, White House, Washington, D.C.

Abraham Lincoln is an 1869 oil-on-canvas painting by George Peter Alexander Healy of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States.

Contents

In the painting, a contemplative Lincoln is observed alone, leaning forward in a chair, with his elbow on his knee and his head resting on his hand. [1] Lincoln's pose was inspired by Healy's 1868 painting, The Peacemakers , which depicts Lincoln and others in an historic 1865 strategy session of the Union high command, during the final days of the American Civil War. [2]

History

Lincoln sat for Healy in August 1864, and Healy began working on his sketches to create a portrait of Lincoln. [3] After Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Healy conceived of The Peacemakers , which he completed in 1868. In 1869, 4 years after the assassination of Lincoln, Healy decided to create a new portrait removing the members of Lincoln's high command to focus only on Lincoln. He painted the portrait in Paris. [3]

On March 3, 1869, an act of Congress authorized the commission of a portrait of Lincoln to hang in the White House. [3] As a result, Healy sent it to Washington, hoping it would be chosen. However, Ulysses S. Grant, then the president of the United States selected a more formal, high art portrait painted by William F. Cogswell. Robert Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's son, purchased Healy's portrait. He said of Healy's portrait: "I have never seen a portrait of my father which is to be compared with it in any way." [3] The portrait was owned by Robert Todd Lincoln's widow, Mary Harlan Lincoln, who bequeathed it to her daughter, Mamie Lincoln Isham, with the understanding that it would be eventually given to the White House. It entered the White House collection after Isham's death in 1938. [4] [3] [5] It hangs in the State Dining Room of the White House. [1]

First Lady Lady Bird Johnson identified the painting as one of her favorites in the White House. [6] Though Richard Nixon had moved the portrait from the State Dining Room, replacing it with Cropsey's View of thePalisades on the Hudson, Gerald Ford had the portrait moved back to its longstanding placement. [7]

A reproduction of the portrait hangs in the Illinois Governor's Mansion in Springfield, Illinois and the Minnesota House of Representatives chamber behind the speaker's chair.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Todd Lincoln</span> American lawyer and politician (1843–1926)

Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and businessman. The eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, he was the only one of their four children to survive past the teenage years and also the only to outlive both parents. Robert Lincoln became a business lawyer and company president, and served as both United States Secretary of War (1881–1885) and the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain (1889–1893).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Todd Lincoln</span> First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865

Mary Ann Todd Lincoln served as the First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Peter Alexander Healy</span> American painter (1813–1894)

George Peter Alexander Healy was an American portrait painter. He was one of the most prolific and popular painters of his day, and his sitters included many of the eminent personages of his time. Born in Boston, he studied in Europe, and over his lifetime had studios in Paris and Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Room (White House)</span> Historic site in Washington, DC

The Green Room is one of three state parlors on the first floor of the White House, the home of the president of the United States. It is used for small receptions and teas. During a state dinner, guests are served cocktails in the three state parlors before the president, first lady, and a visiting head of state descend the Grand Staircase for dinner. The room is traditionally decorated in shades of green. The room is approximately 28 by 22.5 feet. It has six doors, which open into the Cross Hall, East Room, South Portico, and Blue Room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Dining Room of the White House</span>

The State Dining Room is the larger of two dining rooms on the State Floor of the Executive Residence of the White House, the home of the president of the United States in Washington, D.C. It is used for receptions, luncheons, larger formal dinners, and state dinners for visiting heads of state on state visits. The room seats 140 and measures approximately 48 by 36 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cross Hall</span> Hallway in the White House

The Cross Hall is a broad hallway on the first floor in the White House, the official residence of the president of the United States. It runs east to west connecting the State Dining Room with the East Room. The room is used for receiving lines following a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn, or a procession of the President and a visiting head of state and their spouses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Bicknell Carpenter</span> American painter (1830–1900)

Francis Bicknell Carpenter was an American painter born in Homer, New York. Carpenter is best known for his painting First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, which is hanging in the United States Capitol. Carpenter resided with President Lincoln at the White House and in 1866 published his one-volume memoir Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln. Carpenter was a descendant of the New England Rehoboth Carpenter family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Executive Residence</span> Central building of the White House complex

The Executive Residence is the central building of the White House complex located between the East Wing and West Wing. It is the most recognizable part of the complex, being the actual "house" part of the White House. This central building, first constructed from 1792 to 1800, is home to the president of the United States and the first family. The Executive Residence primarily occupies four floors: the ground floor, the state floor, the second floor, and the third floor. A sub-basement with a mezzanine, created during the 1948–1952 Truman reconstruction, is used for HVAC and mechanical systems, storage, and service areas.

The Lincoln family is an American family of English origins. It includes the fourth United States Attorney General, Levi Lincoln Sr., governors Levi Lincoln Jr. and Enoch Lincoln, and Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States. There were ten known descendants of Abraham Lincoln. The president's branch of the family is believed to have been extinct since its last undisputed, legal and known descendant, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died on December 24, 1985, without any acknowledged children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Ulke</span> Prussian-American photographer and painter

Henry Ulke was an American photographer and portrait painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences urban legend</span> Urban legend

There are many coincidences with the assassinations of U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and these have become a piece of American folklore. The list of coincidences appeared in the mainstream American press in 1964, a year after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, having appeared prior to that in the GOP Congressional Committee Newsletter. In the 1970s, Martin Gardner examined the list in an article in Scientific American, pointing out that several of the claimed coincidences were based on misinformation. Gardner's version of the list contained 16 items; many subsequent versions have circulated much longer lists.

Mary Todd "Mamie" Lincoln Isham was a granddaughter of Abraham Lincoln, the first daughter of Robert Todd Lincoln and the mother of Lincoln Isham.

<i>The Peacemakers</i> 1868 painting by George P.A. Healy

The Peacemakers is an 1868 painting by George P.A. Healy. It depicts the historic March 27, 1865, strategy session by the Union high command on the steamer River Queen during the final days of the American Civil War. Although he painted it in at least two versions, the largest was destroyed by fire in 1893, and the second sat unknown in storage for decades. Since 1947, it has been in the White House collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps</span>

Presidents of the United States have frequently appeared on U.S. postage stamps since the mid-19th century. The United States Post Office Department released its first two postage stamps in 1847, featuring George Washington on one, and Benjamin Franklin on the other. The advent of presidents on postage stamps has been definitive to U.S. postage stamp design since the first issues were released and set the precedent that U.S. stamp designs would follow for many generations.

<i>First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln</i> 1864 painting

First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln is an 1864 oil-on-canvas painting by Francis Bicknell Carpenter. In the painting, Carpenter depicts Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and his Cabinet members reading over the Emancipation Proclamation, which proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states in rebellion against the Union in the American Civil War on January 1, 1863. Lincoln presented the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet on July 22, 1862 and issued it on September 22, 1862. The final Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lew Bloom</span> American actor and art collector (1859–1929)

Lew Bloom was an American vaudeville performer and stage actor who popularized the comical tramp character. After retiring from the stage in the 1910s, he became a prolific art collector and dealer and also painted his own original works.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Abraham Lincoln:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidential portraits of George W. and Laura Bush</span> Paintings by John Howard Sanden

Portraits of the former president of the United States George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush were painted by the American portrait artist John Howard Sanden in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The paintings were unveiled in 2012 in a ceremony at the White House where they presently hang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Bradford Isham</span> American historian

Charles Bradford Isham was an American historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art in the White House</span>

The White House's art collection, sometimes also called the White House Collection or Pride of the American Nation, has grown over time from donations from descendants of the Founding Fathers to commissions by established artists. It comprises paintings, sculptures, and other art forms. At times, the collection grows from a president's specific request, such as when Ronald Reagan began collecting the work of naval artist Tom Freeman in 1986, a tradition that continued through the Obama years.

References

  1. 1 2 "Nixon Gives Lincoln Portrait to Staffers". The Rock Hill Herald . December 17, 1971. Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  2. Kloss, William; Bolger, Koreen (1992) [1992]. Art in the White House: a nation's pride . White House Historical Association in cooperation with the National Geographic Society. p.  156. ISBN   978-0-8109-3965-3.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Abraham Lincoln". White House Historical Association. Archived from the original on June 26, 2010. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  4. "Mrs. Isham Dies; Was Lincoln's Kin: Granddaughter of President a Daughter of Robert Todd Lincoln, Ex-War Secretary Owned Famous Portrait" . The New York Times . November 22, 1938. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  5. Reinhold, Dorothy (July 12, 1992). "Celebration! 200 years at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue". Observer-Reporter . Washington, Penn. Los Angeles Daily News. p. F-7. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  6. Cuno, John Marshall (March 3, 1965). "Art and the First Lady". The Christian Science Monitor . Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  7. "'Lincoln Portrait' Back In Its Place". Sarasota Herald-Tribune . United Press International. September 12, 1974. p. D-1. Retrieved January 27, 2012.