Life Mask of Abraham Lincoln

Leonard Wells Volk American
 Augustus Saint-Gaudens American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 773


In spring 1860, the Chicago sculptor Leonard Wells Volk made life molds of the face and hands of Abraham Lincoln, then a presidential candidate. Together Saint-Gaudens, New York collectors Thomas B. Clarke and Erwin Davis, and journalist Richard Watson Gilder purchased the original plaster casts to present to the United States government in 1888 (now at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History). To offset the cost, they sold bronze and plaster casts of Volk’s originals to subscribers, with production supervised by Saint-Gaudens.

Life Mask of Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Wells Volk (1828–1895), Bronze, American

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Life Mask of Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Wells Volk (1828–1895), Bronze, American
Life Mask of Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Wells Volk (1828–1895), Bronze, American
Life Mask of Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Wells Volk (1828–1895), Bronze, American

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