Life Mask of Abraham Lincoln
1860, cast 1886
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
L. 8 in. (20.3 cm)
Classification
Life mask
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Jonathan L. Cohen and Allison B. Morrow Gift and Friends of the American Wing Fund, 2007
Accession Number
2007.185.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the presence of Abraham as he appeared on the cusp of history with this poignant *Life Mask*. Created in 1860 by sculptor Leonard Wells just weeks after Lincoln's Republican presidential nomination, it captures the future president's face in unprecedented detail through a direct plaster cast taken from life. Volk, a Chicago-based artist, worked with Lincoln during a sitting that also produced hand casts, preserving features worn by years of frontier life and political ambition. A bronze edition was later cast in 1886 by renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, enhancing its durabili...