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Bust of Abraham Lincoln

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

American Art

This portrait bust of President Abraham Lincoln was derived from the full-length standing portrait completed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887 for Chicago’s Lincoln Park. Saint-Gaudens based Lincoln’s likeness on plaster life casts of the president’s head.

The sculptor was inspired by Lincoln’s landmark 1860 speech at Cooper Union in New York, in which the future president declared that the founders would have opposed the expansion of slavery into new American territories. In this speech Lincoln also made famous the phrase “Let us have faith that right makes might.”
MEDIUM Bronze
DATES 1922
DIMENSIONS 28 x 17 x 14 in. (71.1 x 43.2 x 35.6 cm) 124.5 lb. (56.47kg)  (show scale)
MARKINGS Foundry mark inscribed on back along bottom: "KUNSt FOUNDRY. N.Y."
SIGNATURE Inscribed under shoulder of proper left side: "A. SAINT GAUDENS. / © 1922."
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 23.257
CREDIT LINE Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Portrait bust of Abraham Lincoln with head tipped downward; has furrowed brow and somber expression; wears a bowtie, suit jacket, and coat; on a pedestal base; naturalistic representation. Condition: Good.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, born Ireland, 1848-1907). Bust of Abraham Lincoln, 1922. Bronze, 28 x 17 x 14 in. (71.1 x 43.2 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 23.257. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.257_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 23.257_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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