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Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865
Born Hardin County, Kentucky
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 slavery at the Cooper Union in New York -- the photograph revealed a candidate whose dignified bearing stood in sharp contrast to the unflattering characterizations spread by his detractors. The portrait circulated in a variety of formats, including this broochlike campaign pin, made by the Boston photographer George Clark, who had copied Brady's original print.
George Clark, after Mathew Brady, 1860 |