Abraham Lincoln

Object Details

Exhibition Label: On May 26, 1860, the illustrated newspaper Harper’s Weekly presented its readers with a large-scale portrait of Abraham Lincoln, who had secured the Republican Party’s nomination for president only a week earlier. Newspapers at that time lacked the technology to publish photographic images. For this reason, Harper’s Weekly relied on one of its artists to produce an engraving of Lincoln—based on Mathew Brady’s photograph—that could be printed along with the paper’s text. The publication enjoyed a circulation estimated at 200,000 in 1860, ensuring that Lincoln’s portrait and its “PHOTOGRAPHED BY BRADY” credit line would reach a vast audience.; El 26 de mayo de 1860, el periódico ilustrado Harper’s Weekly publicó para sus lectores un retrato a gran escala de Abraham Lincoln, quien apenas una semana antes se había asegurado la nominación presidencial por el Partido Republicano. En aquella época los periódicos carecían de recursos tecnológicos para imprimir imágenes fotográficas. Por lo tanto, Harper’s Weekly recurrió a sus artistas para que produjeran un grabado de Lincoln (basado en la foto de Mathew Brady) que pudiera acompañar el texto del periódico. En 1860 la publicación tenía una circulación aproximada de 200,000, lo cual garantizó que el retrato de Lincoln y la línea de crédito “FOTOGRAFIADO POR BRADY” llegaran a un público amplio.

1860

Medium: Wood engraving on paper
Dimensions: Image: 24 × 15.8cm (9 7/16 × 6 1/4"); Sheet: 40.6 × 28.7cm (16 × 11 5/16"); Mat: 55.9 × 40.6cm (22 × 16")

National Portrait Gallery

Topic: Illustration; Abraham Lincoln: Male; Abraham Lincoln: Law and Crime\Lawyer; Abraham Lincoln: Military and Intelligence\Soldier; Abraham Lincoln: Politics and Government\Government official\President of US; Abraham Lincoln: Social Welfare and Reform\Reformer\Environmentalist; Abraham Lincoln: Business and Finance\Businessperson\Merchant; Abraham Lincoln: Politics and Government\Government official\US Congressman\Illinois; Abraham Lincoln: Politics and Government\Government official\Surveyor; Abraham Lincoln: Politics and Government\Government official\State Senator\Illinois; Abraham Lincoln: Politics and Government\Government official\Postmaster; Abraham Lincoln: Business and Finance\Tradesman\Boat builder; Portrait

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm48598b6c2-f91c-44dc-902a-3f29ce5a4905