Lot 97
97
[LINCOLN, Abraham]. GARDNER, Alexander, Photographer. President Abraham Lincoln with his son, Tad. Imperial size albumen photograph, taken in Gardner's Gallery, Washington, D.C., 5 February 1865. 354 x 255 mm., two tiny scratches to right hand portion (the chair back), evenly age-darkened, otherwise fine. Ostendorf, Lincoln's Photographs, 0-114. Katz, Witness to an Era. The Life and Photographs of Alexander Gardner, pp.119, 127.
[LINCOLN, Abraham]. GARDNER, Alexander, Photographer. President Abraham Lincoln with his son, Tad. Imperial size albumen photograph, taken in Gardner's Gallery, Washington, D.C., 5 February 1865. 354 x 255 mm., two tiny scratches to right hand portion (the chair back), evenly age-darkened, otherwise fine. Ostendorf, Lincoln's Photographs, 0-114. Katz, Witness to an Era. The Life and Photographs of Alexander Gardner, pp.119, 127.

Price realised USD 18,800
Estimate
USD 5,000 – USD 7,000
Estimates do not reflect the final hammer price and do not include buyer's premium, and applicable taxes or artist's resale right. Please see Section D of the Conditions of Sale for full details.
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[LINCOLN, Abraham]. GARDNER, Alexander, Photographer. President Abraham Lincoln with his son, Tad. Imperial size albumen photograph, taken in Gardner's Gallery, Washington, D.C., 5 February 1865. 354 x 255 mm., two tiny scratches to right hand portion (the chair back), evenly age-darkened, otherwise fine. Ostendorf, Lincoln's Photographs, 0-114. Katz, Witness to an Era. The Life and Photographs of Alexander Gardner, pp.119, 127.

Price realised USD 18,800
Price realised USD 18,800
DetailsMore from
Details
[LINCOLN, Abraham]. GARDNER, Alexander, Photographer. President Abraham Lincoln with his son, Tad. Imperial size albumen photograph, taken in Gardner's Gallery, Washington, D.C., 5 February 1865. 354 x 255 mm., two tiny scratches to right hand portion (the chair back), evenly age-darkened, otherwise fine. Ostendorf, Lincoln's Photographs, 0-114. Katz, Witness to an Era. The Life and Photographs of Alexander Gardner, pp.119, 127.

THE LAST SITTING: TEN WEEKS BEFORE THE ASSASSINATION. A poignant image of the President taken in his last sitting for a portrait, only ten weeks before his assassination. He is depicted seated at a table, holding a book, with his son Tad, at the time twelve years old, leaning on the opposite side of the table. Gardner, as a former Brady photographer, was well aware of the famous Brady image of Lincoln and Tad, which had become an enormous commercial success, and "consciously or unconsciously decided to imitate his old employer," now a competitor. On February 5, 1865, ten weeks before the assassination, in Lincoln's last sitting for Gardner, he recorded this fine image. Lincoln's youngest son, named Robert after his grandfather, was known since birth as Tad (short for Tadpole). Tad was mischievious and undisciplined, and was indulged by his parents after the death of his older brother in 1862. After his father's assassination, Tad attended boarding school; he passed away from tuberculosis at age 18.

Although the carte-de-visite size print of this celebrated image is relatively common, imperial size prints such as this one are now extremely rare.

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