DC -- Ford's Theatre NHS (Museum) -- Painting: Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands:
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Description of Pictures: "LINCOLN BORNE BY LOVING HANDS" 151 YEAR OLD ASSASSINATION EYEWITNESS PAINTING NOW ON DISPLAY
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND FORD’S THEATRE SOCIETY ANNOUNCE DISPLAY OF CARL BERSCH’S OIL PAINTING "LINCOLN BORNE BY LOVING HANDS"
PAINTING DEPICTS THE STREETSCAPE AS PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S BODY WAS CARRIED FROM FORD’S THEATRE TO THE PETERSEN HOUSE
Restored painting to remain on display at Ford’s Theatre Museum
Washington.— The National Park Service and Ford’s Theatre Society today announced that Carl Bersch’s oil on canvas painting, Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands, is now on display within the Ford’s Theatre Museum (511 Tenth Street NW). Newly restored, the painting depicts the dramatic scene on Tenth Street NW, between E and F Streets, after President Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre and his body was carried across the street to the Petersen boarding house on April 14, 1865. Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands is the only known artistic eyewitness depiction of the assassination of President Lincoln.
THE ARTIST
Carl Bersch (1834-1914) was a German-born portrait artist who worked in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., after immigrating to the United States in 1861. On the night of President Lincoln’s assassination, Bersch was living in a boarding house on Tenth Street NW, adjacent to the Petersen House (where President Lincoln died). It is believed that Bersch was sketching the streetscape, which was specially illuminated by torchlight in celebration of the end of the Civil War, when alarmed patrons rushed from Ford’s Theatre proclaiming that President Abraham Lincoln had been shot. Bersch witnessed a group of men carry the wounded president from the Theatre to the Petersen House, where Lincoln would die the following morning at 7:22 a.m.
THE PAINTING’S PROVENANCE
Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands remained in the Bersch family until 1932, when Carl Bersch’s daughter, Carrie L. Fischer, lent the painting to the museum at Ford’s Theatre. The painting was eventually willed to the White House in 1977 by Bersch’s granddaughter, Gerda Fischer Vey, and transferred to the National Park Service. Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands was recently conserved to remove layers of dirt and varnish, and to stabilize it for exhibition.
“Carl Bersh’s depiction of the mortally wounded Abraham Lincoln being carried out of Ford’s Theatre offers a unique ‘you-are-there’ perspective provided by an eyewitness to this pivotal event in American history,” said Gay Vietzke, superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks. “On the occasion of its centennial celebration, the National Park Service is pleased to return this newly conserved painting to display at Ford’s Theatre.”
“On this 151st anniversary of President Lincoln’s assassination, Carl Bersh’s remarkable painting has its Ford’s Theatre homecoming,” said Ford’s Theatre Director Paul R. Tetreault. “Hanging within the Ford’s Theatre Museum and located near both the clothes that Lincoln wore to Ford’s Theatre on the night of his assassination and not far from John Wilkes Booth’s infamous deringer pistol, Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands powerfully rounds out the story of that fateful April night. We are eager for the public to experience it for themselves.”
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FORDSM_161128_01.JPG: Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands
Carl Bersch, 1865
On the night of April 14th, artist Carl Bersch sat on his balcony sketching a torchlight procession on 10th Street as crowds gathered to celebrate the surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant.
As he sketched, Bersch noticed commotion on the street and stood witness as a group of men carried the wounded Abraham Lincoln from Ford's Theatre into the Petersen House where he died the next morning. Bersch captured the moment on his sketch pad and later painted it in oil onto his canvas. Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands is the only known artistic representation by an eyewitness to the scene outside of Ford's Theatre on the night the president was assassinated. The painting was donated to the federal government in 1977 by the artist's granddaughter, Gerda Fischer Vey.
FORDSM_161128_12.JPG: Self Portrait of Carl Bersch
Carl Bersch, c 1900
Carl Bersch immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1861. In April of 1865, he lived in the boarding house next door to the Petersen House and worked as a portrait artist in Baltimore and Washington, DC. He became a United States citizen in 1866.
FORDSM_161128_24.JPG: With charity towards all
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