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Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865
Mathew Brady's first portrait of Abraham Lincoln played a significant role in shaping Lincoln's public image during the 1860 presidential campaign. Taken on February 27, 1860 -- the day Lincoln delivered his stirring address on the question of slavery in the territories at the Cooper Union in New York City -- Brady's carefully crafted image revealed a candidate whose dignified bearing stood in sharp contrast to the unflattering characterizations circulated by his detractors. In the months before the November election, Brady's Lincoln portrait circulated in a variety of formats, including this brooch-like campaign pin by Boston photographer George Clark, who created it by copying Brady's original.
George B. Clark Jr., after Mathew Brady, 1860 |