Right Hand of Abraham Lincoln

Leonard Wells Volk American
 Augustus Saint-Gaudens American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 762

The Chicago sculptor Volk produced casts of Abraham Lincoln’s face and hands in spring 1860, during his first presidential campaign. The right hand grips a broom handle, a prop that Lincoln improvised upon Volk’s suggestion that he hold something cylindrical resembling a document. In 1886 Saint-Gaudens, collectors Thomas B. Clarke and Erwin Davis, and journalist Richard W. Gilder purchased the original plaster casts to present to the Smithsonian Institution. To finance the donation, they sold casts after Volk’s originals, with production supervised by Saint-Gaudens.The life mask is also in the Met's collection (2007.185.2).

Right Hand of Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Wells Volk (1828–1895), Bronze, American

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Right Hand of Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Wells Volk (1828–1895), Bronze, American
Right Hand of Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Wells Volk (1828–1895), Bronze, American
Right Hand of Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Wells Volk (1828–1895), Bronze, American
Right Hand of Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Wells Volk (1828–1895), Bronze, American

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