A colossal bust of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

was made by

Gutzon Borglum John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Georg ...

and completed in 1908. The original

marble sculpture Marble has been the preferred material for stone monumental sculpture since ancient times, with several advantages over its more common geological "parent" limestone, in particular the ability to absorb light a small distance into the surface bef ...

is installed in the

United States Capitol crypt The United States Capitol crypt is the large circular room filled with forty neoclassical Doric columns directly beneath the United States Capitol rotunda. It was built originally to support the rotunda as well as offer an entrance to Washingto ...

, in Washington, D.C. Copies cast in bronze are installed in several other locations, including the

Lincoln Tomb The Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States; his wife Mary Todd Lincoln; and three of their four sons: Edward, William, and Thomas. It is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, ...

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

Marble original sculpture

Bust_of_Abraham_Lincoln_by_Gutzon_Borglum_cph

Borglum made the original bust directly from Alabama marble without a prior plaster model, based on photographs and an 1860 life mask of Lincoln's face made by

Leonard Volk Leonard Wells Volk (November 7, 1828 – August 19, 1895) was an American sculptor. He is notable for making one of only two life masks of United States President Abraham Lincoln. In 1867 he helped establish the Chicago Academy of Design and ser ...

. The likeness was praised by Lincoln's son

Robert Todd Lincoln Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was an American lawyer, businessman, and politician. He was the eldest son of President of the United States, President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. Robert Lincoln became a bu ...

in 1908: "I think it is the most extraordinarily good portrait of my father I have ever seen." It stands about high, weighs about , and is signed and dated "Gutzon Borglum/1908". The distinctive face of Lincoln, without a beard, emerges from the rough rock, similar in style to sculptures by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was in ...

and Auguste Rodin, and also similar to Borglum's sculptures at

Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore ( Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dako ...

, which includes a bearded Lincoln. Borglum also made a statue of ''

Seated Lincoln ''Seated Lincoln'' is a 1911 sculpture by Gutzon Borglum, located next to the Essex County Veterans Courthouse in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 1995, for its signific ...

'', installed in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

in 1911. The sculpture was donated to Congress by the New York financier Eugene Meyer, Jr., as recorded on the marble pedestal also designed by Borglum on which the bust was installed in 1911. For many decades it was displayed in

United States Capitol rotunda The United States Capitol rotunda is the tall central rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It has been described as the Capitol's "symbolic and physical heart". Built between 1818 and 1824, the rotunda is located below the ...

, which still has a standing statue of Lincoln made by

Vinnie Ream Lavinia Ellen "Vinnie" Ream Hoxie (September 25, 1847 – November 20, 1914) was an American sculptor. Her most famous work is the statue of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in the United States Capitol rotunda. Ream's '' Statue of Sequoyah ...

in 1871. The bust was moved to the crypt below in 1979. The bust is part of the United States Capitol art collection, but it is not one of the sculptures of the National Statuary Hall Collection. Two other sculptures by Borglum are in the

National Statuary Hall Collection The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol is composed of statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history. Limited to two statues per state, the collection was originally set up in the old ...

: a statue of Alexander Hamilton Stephens and a statue of Zebulon Baird Vance.

Bronze casts

Borglum had intended the marble bust to remain a unique work of art, but a mold was later made which was used to cast several copies in bronze. One cast stands in front of the

. Others are in the collections of the

Chicago Historical Society Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the in ...

, the College of the City of New York, the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, and the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

. The bust in the White House was donated by Eugene Meyer in 1954, and is usually displayed on a stone pillar in the

East Garden Room East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

, which links the

East Wing The East Wing of the White House is a two-story structure that serves as office space for the First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non ...

to the

Executive Residence Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dire ...

. The patina has been rubbed off the noses of the busts at the Lincoln Tomb and at

Shepherd Hall Shepherd Hall, also known as Monument Place and formerly as Stone Mansion, is a Plantation house in the Southern United States, historic house listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, Wheeling i ...

, CUNY, where they are often touched for good luck. An example of a bronze cast of Borglum's bust was sold in 2015 for $30,000.Gutzon Borglum, ''Head of Lincoln''
Sotheby's, 2 October 2015

References

External links

* {{Gutzon Borglum 1908 establishments in Washington, D.C. 1908 sculptures Abraham Lincoln in art Art in the White House Bronze sculptures in California Bronze sculptures in Illinois Bronze sculptures in New York City Bronze sculptures in Washington, D.C. Buildings and structures in Berkeley, California Buildings and structures in Springfield, Illinois Busts in California Busts in Illinois Busts in New York City Busts in Washington, D.C. Busts of presidents of the United States Marble sculptures in Washington, D.C. Monuments and memorials in California Monuments and memorials in Illinois Monuments and memorials in New York City Monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C. Sculptures of men in California Sculptures of men in Illinois Sculptures of men in New York City Sculptures of men in Washington, D.C. Sculptures by Gutzon Borglum University of California, Berkeley

Marble original sculpture

Bronze casts

See also

References

External links