Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

1916-1922

Painted plaster

Overall: 32 1/2 x 25 1/4 x 28 in. ( 82.6 x 64.1 x 71.1 cm )

Gift of Mrs. William Penn Cresson (Margaret French)

1954.164

This statuette, made in 1916, is the model for the colossal marble statue in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, of which Henry Bacon was the architect. From this statuette French made a model twelve feet high which was placed in the memorial. Both French and Bacon agreed it was much too small, so photographs eighteen and twenty fee tall were made and set up on the site. The sculptor and the architect agreed that the great pillared hall required the heroic size of twenty feet. The twenty-foot statue was completed in 1919 and installed in the Memorial the following year. The dedication took place on May 30, 1922.

DescriptionPortrait (full-length)

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Collections