Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln)

Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln)

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln)Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln)Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln)Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln)Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln)

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.