Today Abraham Lincoln is universally regarded as one of the greatest Presidents ever. But through much of his administration, he seemed destined for a much less exalted ranking. Entrusted with guiding the nation through civil war, he was beset from the start with criticism from all sides. Some charged him with moral cowardice for initially insisting that an end to slavery was not one of his wartime goals; others accused him of overstepping his constitutional powers; still others blamed him for military reverses in the field. But as Union forces moved toward victory, Lincoln's eloquent articulation of the nation's ideals and his eventual call for an end to slavery gradually invested him with a saintly grandeur. Following his assassination in 1865, that grandeur became virtually unassailable.

The original version of this portrait served as a template for artist George P. A. Healy's large painting, The Peacemakers, depicting Lincoln in consultation with three of his main military advisers at the end of the Civil War. But Healy recognized that the template made for a fine portrait in its own right. Eventually he did three replicas of it, including this one, commissioned by Lincoln's friend Elihu Washburne, and another one, once owned by Lincoln's son Robert, which hangs today in the White House.

George P. A. Healy (1813-1894)
Oil on canvas, 1887
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of Andrew W. Mellon
NPG.65.50

Enlarged image