Abraham Lincoln (Healy)

1869 painting by George P. A. Healy

Abraham Lincoln

Artist| George Peter Alexander Healy
Year| 1869
Medium| Oil on canvas
Dimensions| 187.3 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.

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

[edit]

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 the Palisades 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

[edit]

* Art in the White House

## References

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abraham Lincoln (Healy).

1. ^ a b "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. ^ a b c d e "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.

* v
* t
* e

Abraham Lincoln

* 16th President of the United States (1861–1865)
* U.S. Representative for IL–7 (1847–1849)

Presidency|

* Transition
* First inauguration
* Perpetual Union
* Lincoln Bible
* Second inauguration
* Civil War
* Confiscation Acts
* President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers
* War based income tax
* Seaports blockade
* RMS Trent Affair
* Habeas Corpus suspended
* Emancipation Proclamation
* West Virginia statehood
* Overland Campaign strategy
* Hampton Roads Conference
* Tour of Richmond
* Ten percent plan
* Reconstruction
* Foreign policy
* 13th Amendment abolishing slavery
* Dakota War of 1862
* Department of the Northwest
* Homestead Act of 1862
* National Banking Acts
* Thanksgiving Day
* Fanny McCullough letter
* Birchard Letter
* Bixby letter
* National Academy of Sciences
* Department of Agriculture
* Pardons
* State of the Union Address, 1863
* 1864
* Cabinet
* Judicial appointments

Speeches|

* Lyceum address (1838)
* Peoria speech (1854)
* "Lost Speech" (1856)
* House Divided speech (1858)
* Lincoln–Douglas debates (1858)
* Cooper Union Address (1860)
* Farewell Address (1861)
* First inaugural address (1861)
* Gettysburg Address (1863, event)
* Second inaugural address (1865)

Life
and views|

* Early life and career
* Black Hawk War
* Matson Trial
* Spot Resolutions
* Boat lifting patent
* Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Co.
* Baltimore Plot
* Lincoln's beard
* Medical and mental health
* Poetry
* Political career, 1849–1861
* Religious views
* Sexuality
* Slavery

Homes
and places|

* Lincoln Birthplace
* Knob Creek Farm
* Lincoln Boyhood Memorial
* Lincoln State Park
* Little Pigeon Creek Community
* Lincoln Trail Homestead State Memorial
* Lincoln's New Salem
* Lincoln-Berry General Store
* Lincoln Home
* Cottage at the Soldier's Home
* Lincoln Bedroom
* Lincoln Sitting Room
* Lincoln Pioneer Village
* Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site

Elections|

* Republican National Convention, 1856
* 1860
* 1864
* National Union Party
* 1860 United States presidential election
* 1864
* 1860 campaign song

Assassination|

* Ford's Theater
* Our American Cousin
* opera
* John Wilkes Booth
* "Sic semper tyrannis"
* Petersen House
* State funeral
* Lincoln catafalque
* Lincoln Tomb
* "O Captain! My Captain!"
* "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"

Legacy and
memorials|

* Presidential Library and Museum
* Papers
* Lincoln/Net
* Artifacts and relics
* Bibliography
* Birthday
* Photographs of Lincoln
* Cultural depictions
* films
* Art
* Currency
* Illinois Centennial half dollar
* Lincoln penny
* Five-dollar bill
* Mount Rushmore Anniversary coins
* Postage stamps
* Abraham Lincoln Association
* Abraham Lincoln Institute
* Association of Lincoln Presenters
* USS Abraham Lincoln (1960,
* 1988)
* Here I Grew Up mosaic
* Lincoln Highway
* Lincoln, Nebraska
* Lincoln Park (Chicago)
* Lincoln Park (D.C.)
* Lincoln Prize
* Lincoln Heritage Trail
* Lincoln Trail State Memorial
* Mount Abraham
* Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences
* Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
* White House ghost

| Statues|

* Lincoln Memorial
* statue
* reflecting pool
* Mount Rushmore
* Abraham Lincoln: The Man
* Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State
* Lincoln the Lawyer
* Young Abe Lincoln
* Emancipation Memorial
* Brooklyn relief
* Cincinnati
* D.C. City Hall
* Hodgenville, Kentucky
* Indianapolis relief
* Laramie, Wyoming
* Lincoln, Nebraska
* Los Angeles
* Louisville, Kentucky
* Newark, New Jersey
* New York City
* Parliament Square, London
* Philadelphia
* Rochester
* U.S. Capitol bust
* U.S. Capitol statue
* Wabash, Indiana

|

Family|

* Family tree
* Mary Todd Lincoln (wife)
* Robert Todd Lincoln (son)
* Edward Baker Lincoln (son)
* William Wallace Lincoln (son)
* Thomas "Tad" Lincoln III (son)
* Mary Todd "Mamie" Lincoln (granddaughter)
* Jessie Harlan Lincoln (granddaughter)
* Thomas Lincoln (father)
* Nancy Hanks Lincoln (mother)
* Sarah Bush Lincoln (stepmother)
* Sarah Lincoln Grigsby (sister)
* Abraham Lincoln (grandfather)
* Mordecai Lincoln (uncle)
* Mary Lincoln Crume (aunt)
* John Hanks (cousin)
* Joseph Hanks (great-grandfather)
* Samuel Lincoln (17th-century ancestor)
* Mary Lincoln Beckwith (great-granddaughter)
* Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (great-grandson)
* Old Bob (horse)
* Fido (dog)

* ← James Buchanan
* Andrew Johnson →

* Category
* Outline

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template