Abraham Lincoln: The Man facts for kids
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Abraham Lincoln: The Man (also known as Standing Lincoln) is a very tall statue of Abraham Lincoln. He was the 16th president of the United States. The statue is made of bronze, which is a strong metal. It stands about 12 feet (3.7 meters) tall, which is much bigger than a real person!
The first statue is in Lincoln Park in Chicago. Other copies of the statue have been given as special gifts from the United States to other countries. These gifts went to the United Kingdom and Mexico.
A famous artist named Augustus Saint-Gaudens finished the statue in 1887. Many people thought it was the most important sculpture of Lincoln from the 1800s. A newspaper called the New York Evening Post said it was the best American sculpture ever made at that time. Lincoln's only grandson, Abraham Lincoln II, was there when the statue was first shown to the public. About 10,000 people came to see it! The artist also made another Lincoln statue called Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State (or 'Seated Lincoln') in Chicago's Grant Park.
How the Statue Was Designed
The statue shows Lincoln standing up from a chair. He looks like he is thinking and about to give a speech. The statue stands on a special base called a pedestal. In Chicago, it also has a curved stone bench area behind it, called an exedra. An architect named Stanford White designed these parts.
A businessman from Chicago, Eli Bates, left money in his will to pay for the statue. Saint-Gaudens was chosen to create it after a contest didn't find the right artist. Saint-Gaudens really admired President Lincoln. He had even seen Lincoln when he became president. He also saw Lincoln's body after he passed away.
To help him create the statue, the artist used special molds. These molds were made from Lincoln's face and hands in 1860. While working on the Standing Lincoln, Saint-Gaudens found a place he loved in Cornish, New Hampshire. He later made it his home and art studio. A friend told him the area had "many Lincoln-shaped men" to convince him to visit!
Copies of the Statue
There are several copies of the Standing Lincoln statue in different places. You can find them at Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois, in Parque Lincoln in Mexico City, and in Parliament Square in London.
The statue in London was given to Britain in July 1920. The American Ambassador officially presented it. The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, accepted the gift for the people of Britain. After a parade, Prince Arthur unveiled the statue.
The statue in Mexico City was given by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson to the people of Mexico in 1964. Later, President Johnson received a smaller copy of just Lincoln's head (a bust) from the statue. This small bust is often seen in the Oval Office at the White House.
In 2016, a brand new copy of the full-size statue was placed in the garden at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish, New Hampshire.
Smaller Versions
After Saint-Gaudens passed away, his wife, Augusta, started making smaller copies of the statue. These copies were about one-third the size of the original. Many of these smaller statues were made starting in 1910.
You can find these smaller versions in many places, including:
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
- The Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven.
- The Harvard Art Museums.
- The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.
- The Detroit Institute of Arts.
- The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
- The Newark Museum of Art in New Jersey.
- The Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish, New Hampshire.
- The Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois.
See also
In Spanish: Abraham Lincoln: The Man para niños
