Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln)

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

1884–87; reduced 1910; cast 1911 · Bronze · The American Wing

This statuette is a reduction after Saint-Gaudens’s monument to Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), which was dedicated in Chicago’s Lincoln Park in 1887. The sculptor based the portrait on Leonard Wells Volk’s 1860 life mask of Lincoln’s face (2007.185.2) and on photographs taken during his presidency. The likeness was further informed by his subject’s speeches and writings and by the sculptor’s own youthful remembrances of Lincoln’s visits to New York. Here, a pensive Lincoln stands in front of the eagle-emblazoned Chair of State, his left foot advanced and his head bowed reflectively as he prepares to deliver a public address.

Artist

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Date

1884–87; reduced 1910; cast 1911

Medium

Bronze

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Purchase, Tyson Family Gift, in memory of Edouard and Ellen Muller; The Beatrice G. Warren and Leila W. Redstone, and Maria DeWitt Jesup Funds; Dorothy and Imre Cholnoky, David Schwartz Foundation Inc., Joanne and Warren Josephy, Annette de la Renta, Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation, and Felicia Fund Inc. Gifts, 2012