File:Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1860).jpg
Original file (3,392 × 4,096 pixels, file size: 1.06 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Captions
Summary
[edit]George Peter Alexander Healy: Abraham Lincoln | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Artist |
artist QS:P170,Q64633 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Title | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Object type | painting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre | portrait | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Depicted people | Abraham Lincoln | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date |
1860 date QS:P571,+1860-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medium |
oil on canvas medium QS:P186,Q296955;P186,Q12321255,P518,Q861259 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dimensions |
height: 76.2 cm (30 in); width: 63.5 cm (25 in) dimensions QS:P2048,76.2U174728 dimensions QS:P2049,63.5U174728 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Collection |
institution QS:P195,Q214867 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accession number |
2014.79.22 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Object history | Thomas B. Bryan, Chicago, 1860; purchased 1879 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exhibition history |
1926 Long-term loan, Lincoln School, Washington, 1926-1943. 1956 Mr. President: A Pictorial Parade of Presidents from Washington to Eisenhower, 1789-1956, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1956, no. 33. 1957 The American Vision: Paintings of Three Centuries: A Loan Exhibition Sponsored by Time, the Weekly Newsmagazine, for the Benefit of the American Federation of Arts, Wildenstein Gallery, New York, October-Novembber 1957, no. 10. 1957 The Bryan-Corcoran Collection of American Portraits, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, March-September 1957, no catalogue. 1959 American National Exhibition, Sokol'niki Park, Moscow, July-September 1959, unnumbered catalogue. 1959 Loan Exhibition. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art: A Benefit Exhibition in Honor of the Gallery's Centenary, Wildenstein, New York, January-March 1959, unnumbered catalogue, repro. 1959 The American Muse: Parallel Trends in Literature and Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 4 April - 17 May 1959, no. 125. 1960 War, Peace, and Union, San Diego Museum of Art, 1960, no. 14. 1966 Past and Present: 250 Years of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, unpublished checklist. 1968 The Artist Sees Historic Illinois, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, 1967-1968, unnumbered catalogue. 1972 The Great Game of Politics, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1972, unpublished checklist. 1974 Loan to display at The White House, Washington, 1974. 1976 Corcoran [The American Genius]. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1976, unnumbered catalogue. 2004 The Body Politic: Portraits of American Presidents, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2004-2005, unpublished checklist. 2008 The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, unpublished checklist. 2009 Bold, Cautious, True: Walt Whitman and American Art of the Civil War Era, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis; Katonah Museum of Art, New York, 2009-2010, no. 11. 2013 American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013-28 September 2014, unpublished checklist. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Credit line | Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Inscriptions |
Signature and date center right: G.P.A Healy / 1860
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes |
A self-trained artist born in Boston, George Peter Alexander Healy enjoyed moderate success as a painter in New England before traveling to Europe to study and seek commissions. He lived in both Paris and London, developing a style of portraiture that emphasized fine draftsmanship, naturalistic coloring, and a smooth, finished surface—all visible in this representation of Abraham Lincoln. The pinnacle of Healy's success abroad was a commission from French king Louis-Philippe to return to paint likenesses of distinguished American statesmen, an endeavor cut short by the French Revolution of 1848 and subsequent abdication of the king. In 1860, Chicago businessman and philanthropist Thomas B. Bryan purchased the works Healy had completed for the series, and commissioned the portrait of then president-elect Lincoln, an Illinois native son. Bryan planned to exhibit these works together in what he described as his "National Gallery," to be housed in the eponymous Bryan Music Hall in Chicago. Although it lacks the iconic features that came to characterize Lincoln's visage in later portraits—his full beard, gaunt face, and pensive solemnity—this portrait is significant as the last painted depiction of Lincoln without a beard. The lines on Lincoln's forehead and jowls and the dark circles beneath his eyes hint at the demands of the election campaign and his impending service as president. Yet, as art collector and museum founder Duncan Phillips noted, "This is a happy Lincoln with a glint of the famous humor which was to mitigate his sorrows and his cares. . . . It is a disarmingly personal impression of the eyes of true greatness at a moment when they were lighted with the surprise, the honor, and the vision of supreme opportunity." In addition to serving as the model for a 1959 postage stamp commemorating the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth, this portrait has hung in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the White House, and the Lincoln School in southeast Washington, DC. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
References | National Gallery of Art artwork ID: 166453 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source/Photographer |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Permission (Reusing this file) |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other versions |
|
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
current | 13:41, 4 July 2020 | 3,392 × 4,096 (1.06 MB) | FDRMRZUSA (talk | contribs) | Original full size from National Gallery of Art at: [https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.166453.html]. | |
21:18, 25 June 2020 | 3,312 × 4,000 (12.49 MB) | FDRMRZUSA (talk | contribs) | Uploaded a work by George Peter Alexander Healy from EXTRACTED FROM AN OLD VERSION OF THIS FILE: File:George Peter Alexander Healy - Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (1860).jpg with UploadWizard |
You cannot overwrite this file.
File usage on Commons
The following 2 pages use this file:
Structured data
Items portrayed in this file
depicts
- Paintings by George Peter Alexander Healy
- 19th-century portrait paintings in the National Gallery of Art
- American paintings in the National Gallery of Art
- Portrait paintings of Abraham Lincoln
- 1860 oil on canvas paintings in the United States
- 1860s portrait paintings from the United States (male)
- 1860 portrait paintings of men
- Paintings formerly in the Corcoran Gallery of Art