Abraham Lincoln: The Man facts for kids

Abraham Lincoln: The Man, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1887), Lincoln Park, Chicago

Recast of the statue (c. 1920) in Parliament Square, London

Recast of the statue (c. 1964) in Parque Lincoln, Mexico City

Abraham Lincoln: The Man (also called Standing Lincoln) is a larger-than-life size 12-foot (3.7 m) bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. The original statue is in Lincoln Park in Chicago, and later re-castings of the statue have been given as diplomatic gifts from the United States to the United Kingdom, and to Mexico.

Completed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887, it has been described as the most important sculpture of Lincoln from the 19th century. At the time, the New York Evening Post called it "the most important achievement American sculpture has yet produced." Abraham Lincoln II, Lincoln's only grandson, was present, among a crowd of 10,000, at the initial unveiling. The artist later created the Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State ('Seated Lincoln') sculpture in Chicago's Grant Park.

Design

The sculpture depicts a contemplative Lincoln rising from a chair, about to give a speech. It is set upon a pedestal and, in Chicago, an exedra designed by architect Stanford White. Chicago businessman Eli Bates (1806–1881) provided $40,000 in his will for the statue. Saint-Gaudens was specially selected for the commission after a design competition failed to produce a winning artist. Saint-Gaudens, who revered the President, had seen Lincoln at the time of his inauguration, and later viewed Lincoln's body lying in state. For his design, the artist also relied on a life mask and hand casts made of Lincoln in 1860 by Leonard W. Volk. While planning and working on the Standing Lincoln, Saint-Gaudens was first enticed to what would become his home and studio, and an associated artist's colony. To convince him to vacation near Cornish, New Hampshire, a friend told him the area had "many Lincoln-shaped men".

A Stanford White designed exedra (semicircular platform with bench) frames Saint Gaudens' original statute

Replicas

Replicas of the statue stand at Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois, Parque Lincoln in Mexico City, and Parliament Square in London. The Parliament Square statue was given to Britain in July 1920. The American Ambassador made a formal presentation at Central Hall, Westminster, where Prime Minister David Lloyd George accepted the gift on behalf of the people of Britain; after a procession to Parliament Square, the statue was unveiled by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. The Mexico City statue was presented by United States President Lyndon Johnson to the people of Mexico in 1964. Later, Johnson received a small copy of the bust from the statue, which since then is often seen displayed in the Oval Office of the White House. In 2016, a newly cast replica of the full-height statue was installed in the garden at Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish.

Small bust copy from the statue in the Oval Office

Reductions

From 1910 onwards, Saint-Gaudens' widow, Augusta, oversaw the casting of a number of smaller replicas of the statue, reduced to slightly under one-third the size of the original.

• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: first cast – sold to Clara Stone Hay, 1911, previously on display in Washington. The sculpture belonged to the family of Lincoln's White House aide John Hay.
• Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven: second cast – gift of Allison Armour, 1937, originally purchased by George Armour
• Harvard Art Museums: third cast – purchased from Doll & Richards, Boston, by Grenville L. Winthrop, 1912
• Hotchkiss School: donated by Homer Sawyer, possibly in 1939–40
• Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: gift of Charles Rosenbloom, 1943
• Chazy School District, New York: purchased 1923 by William H. Miner
• Detroit Institute of Art: donated by Mrs Walter O. Briggs, 1952
• Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills: cast in 1940 by Gorham
• Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan: gift of the Ford Motor Company
• Carnegie Library, Jackson District Library, Jackson, Michigan: gift, 1915
• Lincoln Memorial University Library, Harrogate, Tennessee: donated by Sarah Lynn in memory of her husband, John Lynn, in 1938
• Lincoln Tomb, Springfield, Illinois
• Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey: gift of Franklin Murphy, 1920
• Saint-Gaudens Memorial, Cornish, New Hampshire: donated by Augusta Saint-Gaudens, 1919
• Fay School, Southborough, Massachusetts
• Abraham Lincoln School of Languages, Havana, Cuba

See also

In Spanish: Abraham Lincoln: The Man para niños