Portraits of Abraham Lincoln

Portraits of Abraham Lincoln    2012/03/08 11:33
AP Icon Scholars estimate that Lincoln sat for 33 photographers and 127 portraits in his lifetime, 37 of them, like the one above, by Alexander Gardner. Getty Young Mr. Lincoln Believed to the oldest known image of Lincoln, this daguerreotype is attributed to Nicholas H. Shepherd, an early photographer in Springfield, Illinois. Known as Meserve #1, it was a gift from Robert Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's eldest son, to Frederick Hill Meserve, who gave it to the Library of Congress. Meserve reported that "Lincoln believed it was made in 1848". Bettmann / Corbis Sharp Dressed Man This frame was made in Beardstown, Illinois, in 1858. Corbis Good Side Alexander Hesler took this portrait of Lincoln while he was campaigning for President. "That looks better and expresses me better than any I have ever seen," Lincoln said. "If it pleases the people I am satisfied." Corbis The Candidate Lincoln posed for another Springfield photographer, Preston Butler, on August 13, 1860. Bettmann / Corbis The Beard During the campaign, Lincoln famously received a letter from an eleven-year-old girl, Grace Bedell, who urged the candidate to grow some facial hair. "You would look a great deal better," she wrote, "for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's (sic) to vote for you and then you would be President." Bettmann / Corbis Father and Son Gardner shot Lincoln with his favorite son, "Tad" in 1865. Commander in Chief Lincoln stands flanked by his bodyguard Major Allan Pinkerton (left) and General John McClernand in Sharpsburg, Maryland, in October 1862, a few weeks after the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln visited the camp in an attempt to persuade General George B. McClellan to take his army on the attack. Corbis Rock Solid Gardner made this head-on portrait in November, 1863, two weeks before the Gettysburg Address. Corbis Profile A ruffled Lincoln (he seems in need of a shave and a trim) poses in February, 1864. Corbis Syndicated This 1861 set-up is attributed to Matthew Brady's Studio. It is not clear if Brady himself took the photo, however, because by that time, Brady's business had grown so substantially that he relied on assistants to actually do the work, which he would then put his name on. Corbis Hint of a Smile This frame was made in February 1865, as the Civil War was winding down and Lincoln was preparing his second inaugural address. It is one of the last made in his lifetime.