L~N COLN LORE Bulletin of the Lincoln National Li!e Foundation - - - • ------Dr. Louis A. Warren, Editor. Published each week by The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Number 442 FORT WAYNE, INDIANA Sepember 27, 1987

LlNCOLN PORTRAITS IN STO!\'E

Constiution Day, September 17th, The IUOII'ble Hec.d ing a manuscript and in the process was the one hundred and fiftieth an· One of the most impressive studies of delivering an address. nivcrsary of the signing of the fam· of Lincoln in Washington is the ous instrument called uthe .rrame of heroic head which occupies a promin­ Youth lnte?'prets Lincoln the l{epublic." A colossal stone head ent place in the rotunda of the Cap­ In the rotunda of the Capitol, keep­ of was dedicated on itol. It is made from a large block of ing company with the Lincoln bead by that day at , South white marble and represents Lincoln the Master, Borglum, is the life size Dakota. as he appeared before his election to statue oi Lincoln by Vinnie Rcnm, a This work of art by Gutzon Bor­ the presidency. girl but sixteen when she first be· glum has prompted the review of This is also the work of Gutzon gan work on the study. other :Camous studies in stone of the Borglum and it has largely infiuenced After Lincoln's assassination an ap­ Emancipator. the Lincoln which was dedicated last propriation was made by Congress Most of the outstanding works of week at Mount Rushmore. The Lin­ to have a life size statue of Lin· sculptural art reproducing the like· coln in the rotunda was the gift of coin made in marble and it was ness of Lincoln hove been dom: in Eugene llleyer in 1908. A replica in Vinnie Ream's work which was chosen. bronze but some of the best known bronze of this head stands in front The unveiling took place in 1871. contributions arc in stone. In fact of the Lincoln monument at Spring· the stone sculptures seem to have at­ field, lllinois. A111onu tlw T11mUYrtalil tracted the most attention because of The Marble y,,.t The Cathedral Church of St. John, their unique design or their strategic the Divine in the city of New York, location. Still another work by Borglum must be included among the outst:mding has designed the parapet at the en· trance to the choir to present out­ The American Sphvu~ Lincoln studies in stone. The sculptor created out of a block of Carrara standing characters who have con· Although the head of Lincoln is tributed most to civilization through but one of four figures-George marble a Lincoln head on an unde· signed bust. The bead itself measures the twenty centuries of the Christian Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abra­ era. ham Lincoln and Theodore Roose­ thirty-three inches !rom the bottom of velt-which will eventually emerge the chin to the top of the figure. 1n the niche assigned to the twenti· from the side of Mount Rushmore, This bust, formerly the property eth century the stone figure of Abra­ tho Lincoln profile, according to the of the late Senator Samuel P. Colt of ham Lincoln appears as the greatest sculptor, wi11 dominate the group. Rhode Island. is now located at the benefactor lo humanity for that peri· od. Lincoln is portrayed standing by a Lincoln bas been mnde to face Detroit Art Center, the gilt of Mr. burial cross delivering his Gettys· Washington and Jefferson and "The Ralph H. Booth. sun hits him full in the face in the burg Address. Au Irish Stone Cutter's Tribute morning, and during the day illumin­ The modelinJl of t.he figun: wab ates a larger portion of the Lincoln One of the earliest statues of Abra­ done by Ferrari and the stone is face than any of the other::t." ham Lincoln was carved by an Irish Champville (France) marble. stone cutter b)' the name of Lott Flan­ The mountain side sculptare will be nery. He was employed as an appren­ the largest monument ever imagined Lit~col" Loo/'8 Across Th6 Mall tice on the stone work at the Capitol by mankind. Its only rival will be the and conceived the idea of doin.g a The statue of Abraham Lincoln by project at , Georgia, Lincoln. Daniel Chester French in the Lincoln where a memorial to the "Lost Cause" Memorial at Washington, appears to is underway. His life •ize figure of Lincoln stood be the outstanding piece ot sculpture The Lincoln in the South Dakota for many years in front of the District art in stone which has thus :far been group might well be called the Ameri· of Columbia Court House. Upon the dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. can Sphynx as the profile is twice as changing of some boundaries the large as the famous Egyptian figure. stnt.ue was l'entoved and placed in French has seated Lincoln in a high armchair with his bead slightly The Lincoln head will be two hundred storage. However, after two years pub· feet high. lie sentiment demanded its return to bowed and his hands resting on the arms of the chair. Borglum visited Mount Rushmore the old site. It was first erected in for the first time in 1924 but the work 1868. The sculpture is nineteen feet high was not started until 1927. Tlte figu\'C While it had originally stood on a and ii the figut·e was made to stand of Roosevelt is yet to be completed. shaft forty feet tall it now rests on a erect it would be twenty-eight feet CongTCss has .appropriated two hun­ pedestal ten feet in height. The life high. The statue is of white marble dred thousand dollars for the work. size statue represents Lincoln hold- and was dedicated May 30, 1922.