Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

Plaster sculpture cast in bronze; 24 1/2 x 18 x 17 in. (622 x 431 mm), signed: "Patented March 31 1868" on base. Minor surface cracks throughout, particularly at joints.

John Rogers was one of the most popular sculptors of the Civil War era. From 1860-63, approximately 80,000 Americans purchased one of his "Rogers Groups", which celebrated military, theater, and domestic scenes. He was particularly loved for the sense of humor and warmth he brought to his works, and he was a favorite of President Lincoln's, to whom Rogers gifted a copy of his Wounded Scout in 1863.

The Council of War was created at the suggestion of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and it depicts Stanton and General Ulysses S. Grant gathered around President Lincoln, who is seated between them with a map in his hands. Stanton cleans his glasses, while Grant, with his finger placed upon the map, explains his plans for troop movements. The original sculpture was displayed for the first time in 1868 and was praised by Stanton and Robert Todd Lincoln as being the best likeness of the late President they'd ever seen. Stanton later wrote to Rogers that, "I am highly gratified with the genius and artistic skill you have displayed...I think you were especially fortunate in your execution of the figure of President Lincoln. In form and feature it surpasses any effort to embody the expression of that great man which I have seen..."

This sculpture was a particular favorite of Robert Todd Lincoln's, and who had this example plaster example bronzed at a foundry on Wabash Avenue in Chicago, and later kept it on a table beside his desk in his personal office at the family estate, Hildene. It is believed to have remained there until the death of his granddaughter Mary Harlan Lincoln "Peggy" Beckwith, in 1975.

The present lot represents the second version, B, as the first version depicted Stanton cleaning his glasses directly behind Lincoln's head and thus conjured unpleasant associations with Lincoln's assassination.

Provenance:

Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926), son of President Abraham Lincoln, thence to

Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, grandson of above

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California

Exhibition:

The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America, at the Huntington Library, October 1993-August 1994