1782 - 1852
Brady and Charles E. Lester chose Daniel Webster as the third figure in their Gallery of Illustrious Americans, after President Zachary Taylor, and John C. Calhoun. Brady knew that no single figure meant more to the nation as a whole, and certainly he believed that no portrait would sell more briskly. Lester compared Webster to the Founding Fathers, while the New York Evening Mirror explained that Webster, and especially this portrait, fit the needs of the time: "In this practical steam and iron age we want strength, and the head and history of Webster are fit subjects of daily contemplation. We have hung the portrait up in the Mirror office, pro bono publicum."See Roger Taney, Lewis Cass, and Charles Sumner
Francis D'Avignon (born circa 1814),
after daguerreotype by Mathew Brady Studio
Lithograph, 1850
28.3 x 24.7 cm (11 1/8 x 9 3/4 inches)
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.