Study for the Statue of Abraham Lincoln
Adolph Alexander Weinman American, born Germany
Cast by Roman Bronze Works
This bronze study for the Lincoln Monument in Frankfort, Kentucky, was commissioned by James Breckenridge Speed, who presented it to the state of Kentucky. Weinman portrays Lincoln with his left hand on a chair on which his coat rests. In its naturalism and air of pensive reflection, Weinman nods to his mentor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s "Abraham Lincoln: the Man" (2012.14a, b). In addition to the Frankfort Lincoln, Weinman executed memorials to Lincoln at Hodgenville, Kentucky, and Madison, Wisconsin.
James Breckenridge Speed served in the Union Army during the Civil War. His uncle, Joshua Fry Speed was a close friend of Lincoln and is credited with keeping Kentucky from joining the Confederacy. James Speed donated the funds for the erection of the over-lifesize sculpture that stands in the state capitol of Kentucky. This statuette was donated to The Met in 1913 by Speed’s widow.
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