Record Details
Abraham Lincoln
There are at least nineteen known reverse paintings on glass of Abraham Lincoln. All of the versions are based upon the photograph of the painting taken by Anthony Berger at Mathew Brady's Washington, D.C., studio on Tuesday, February 9, 1864. The large number of extant glass portraits of Lincoln and other luminaries suggests that many more of these paintings were painted than have probably survived due to their fragility. In three of the Lincoln portraits the president is facing right, which incorrectly places his signature mole on the wrong side of his face.
This example is attributed to William Matthew Prior, who painted more than one hundred surviving reverse paintings on glass of celebrated American heroes including George and Martha Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, and Daniel Webster.
Lee Kogan, "Abraham Lincoln," exhibition label for FOILED: Tinsel Painting in America. Lee Kogan, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012–2013.