July 14 & 15, 2020 Fine & Decorative Arts
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/14/2020
A rare opportunity for the Lincoln collector. In 1864 William F. Cogswell was invited to the White House to sketch President Lincoln. The painting shows Lincoln on the White House porch with the Capitol dome in the background and the President’s black coat and tall hat on the chair in the foreground. As the work was nearing completion, the U.S. Congress announced a portrait contest to paint Lincoln's likeness and preserve a part of Lincoln's legacy with President Ulysses S. Grant choosing the winner. Grant chose a painting by William Cogswell, making it the official White House portrait. Cogswell completed three replicas of this life-sized portrait. He sold one to the State of California and it now hangs in the State Assembly Chambers behind the speaker’s podium. Another was owned by the State House of Hawaii, and the last, Cogswell kept for himself. While he captured the faces of many prominent people, Cogswell is most noted for his portraits of Ulysses S. Grant, currently hanging in the United States Senate, and Abraham Lincoln, which was displayed in the Green Room at the time of the artist’s death in 1903 and still hangs in the White House today. This portrait was found hanging in Albion Castle, a mansion built in 1870 in San Francisco when the artist was living in that city. The Bishop Museum (Honolulu), the Butler Institute of American Art (Youngstown, Ohio), the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, California), the Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, Nebraska), the National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC), the New York Historical Society, the Ohio Historical Society (Columbus, Ohio), the Haggin Museum (Stockton, California), the Indiana State Museum (Indianapolis), the White House, the Union League Club of Chicago, and the Mabel Tainter Theater in Menomonie, Wisconsin, are among the public collections holding paintings by William Cogswell. The inscription indicates that it is a copy of the White House portrait. The painting had 6" wide area of water damage beginning at the top of the canvas and running down by Lincoln's ear extending beyond the bottom of his jacket which was noted in a period photograph of the artist’s home. This has been completely restored. Two areas of 1" wide inpainting running vertically in front of Lincoln's knees. Other areas of scattered inpainting.
This is not a standard shippable item and will require 3rd party shipping or pickup arrangements to be made.Item Dimensions: Frame: 108" x 72" x 5".
Artist
WILLIAM F COGSWELL (AMERICAN, 1819 - 1903).
Title
LIFE-SIZED PORTRAIT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Signature
Lower right "Abraham Lincoln/ After the original in the /White House Washington/DC by W Cogswell".