Abraham Lincoln Chromolithograph, Alban Jasper Conant (1821-1915) in Abe Munn Frame

Excellent  chromolithograph of Lincoln by Alban Jasper Conant, (see info below) . 

 

Image size is 11 5/8" x 17 9/16"

 

Abe Munn frame is 16 7/8" x 22 3/4" x 2 1/8"

Dear Mr. Bright:

 

Thank you for stopping in last week with the snapshot of your framed Lincoln chromolithograph.  You have done us a favor by obliging us to examine it, because we have an identical piece in our collection to which we had not put an artist’s name.  The work is by Alban Jasper Conant (1821-1915).  Conant painted Lincoln from life in 1860 (no beard) and 1862 (with beard).  He reworked both of those paintings many times, and sold many versions over the years.  We have an original oil of 1862 in our collection.

 

Comparison to the 4 various images of Lincoln by Conant that we have as prints, photos, etc., in our collection led us to determine that your, and our, framed chromolithograph, is also by Conant, based on the way he painted the mouth, combed and lighted to hair, cast the neck-line, etc., in his various versions.   Chromolithographs were possible to print from as early as the 1850s.  Conant is rightly heralded as a from-life painter, and as the painter who depicted Lincoln looking the most contented, even happy – because he painted him before the cares of office changed his visage; that is to say, the 1862 w/beard image is much happier-looking than anythign else one sees, and there is some suspicion that Conant did not really sketch a thing from life when he saw Lincoln briefly in 1862, but only drew from his own 1860 work. 

 

James M. Cornelius

 

Curator, Lincoln Collection

 

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum

 

112 N. Sixth St.

 

Springfield, IL 62701-1310   217.785.7954

 

http://www.alplm.org/home.html