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 This
beautiful image of Abraham Lincoln reading to his son
Tad was photographed in 1864 by famed photographer
Matthew Brady. The image was an instant success,
being widely reproduced in the form of cabinet cards,
simple engravings in periodicals such as Harpers, and
more formal prints and lithographs such as this fine
example printed by Charles Desilver in Philadelphia.
The image is from an artistic print of the scene by O.
Kohler. Desliver's fine print presents a wide
border, fine scripted text, and a facsimile of Abraham's
signature, reading "Yours Truly, A Lincoln".
 Although
the widely circulated story about this image is that
Lincoln is reading the Bible to his son, evidence from
the actual sitting is that the book was simply a prop
for the photo, though many copies of the print have the
scene captioned as Lincoln Reading the
Bible to his Son.
The fact is less
important, in my
opinion, than the powerful and beautiful image of
Lincoln, at the height of the Civil War, spending time
reading to his young son.
The idea of "Father
Lincoln" was a universal sentiment in the American
psyche and this fatherly image reinforced that
sentiment. It's heartbreaking to
know that in the same year
this print was published, both young Tad and the nation
lost its father to the cruel bullet of an assassin. |
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A wonderful print of Abraham Lincoln
reading to his son Tad, printed in 1865,
the year of his assassination.
Accompanied by a rare Lincoln mourning
flag carried along Lincoln's funeral
procession, 34 Stars on a black canton,
"The Nation Mourns a Martyred Father". |
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Media: Sepia Print
Dates: 1865War: American
Civil War
Type: Print
Catalog Number: IAS-00066 |
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Next:
George Washington
Early Textile, 1806 |
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