Alexander Hesler
Abraham Lincoln

Public Domain

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Artist Alexander HeslerAmerican, 1823–1895

Printer George B. AyresAmerican, 1829–1905

CultureAmerican

Titles

Abraham Lincoln

DateJune 3, 1860, printed 1881 or later

Made inSpringfield, Illinois

MediumPlatinum print from glass negative

DimensionsImage (At open): 9 × 6 15/16 in. (22.9 × 17.7 cm)
Frame (outer): 11 15/16 × 9 15/16 × 3/4 in. (30.4 × 25.2 × 1.9 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Sharon and Del Zogg; and various donors in memory of Ries Daniel

Object number2019.273

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionFew figures in American history are more recognizable or revered than Abraham Lincoln. This image was taken by Alexander Hesler at the old state capitol in Springfield, Illinois, just two weeks after Lincoln’s nomination for President by the Republican National Convention in Chicago, and before the toll of the Civil War imprinted itself on his features. George B. Ayres, who had bought and then sold Hesler’s studio, retained the glass negatives from this sitting, which fortuitously preserved them when the rest of the studio’s contents were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Provenance[Cowan's Auctions, Cincinnati, June 21, 2019, lot 177]; purchased by MFAH, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

No inscriptions visible.

Catalogue raisonnéKunhardt AL.1860.5A; Meserve 26; Ostendorf 26; Lorant 20

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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