Focus on Abraham Lincoln (Healy) and explore the History.
Lincoln sat for Healy in August 1864, and Healy began working on his sketches to create a portrait of Lincoln. After Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Healy conceived of The Peacemakers, which he completed in 1868. In 1869, 4 years after the assassination of Lincoln, Healy decided to create a new portrait removing the members of Lincoln's high command to focus only on Lincoln. He painted the portrait in Paris.On March 3, 1869, an act of Congress authorized the commission of a portrait of Lincoln to hang in the White House. As a result, Healy sent it to Washington, hoping it would be chosen. However, Ulysses S. Grant, then the president of the United States selected a portrait painted by William F. Cogswell. Robert Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's son, purchased Healy's portrait. He said of Healy's portrait: "I have never seen a portrait of my father which is to be compared with it in any way." The portrait was owned by Robert Todd Lincoln's widow, Mary Harlan Lincoln, who bequeathed it to her daughter, Mamie Lincoln Isham, with the understanding that it would be eventually given to the White House.  It entered the White House collection after Isham's death in 1938. It hangs in the State Dining Room of the White House.First Lady Lady Bird Johnson identified the painting as one of her favorites in the White House. Though Richard Nixon had moved the portrait from the State Dining Room, replacing it with Cropsey's View of the Palisades on the Hudson, Gerald Ford had the portrait moved back to its longstanding placement.A reproduction of the portrait hangs in the Illinois Governor's Mansion in Springfield, Illinois and the Minnesota House of Representatives chamber behind the speaker's chair.
assassination of Lincoln Mamie Lincoln Isham Cropsey's Lincoln's assassination Robert Todd Lincoln Mary Harlan Lincoln Richard Nixon Minnesota House of Representatives State Dining Room of the White House The Peacemakers First Lady William F. Cogswell painting Ulysses S. Grant Paris Lady Bird Johnson State Dining Room White House Springfield, Illinois Gerald Ford president of the United States Illinois Governor's Mansion