Lincoln sat for Healy in August 1864, and Healy began working on his sketches to create a portrait of Lincoln. After Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Healy conceived of "The Peacemakers", which he completed in 1868. In 1869, 4 years after the assassination of Lincoln, Healy decided to create a new portrait removing the members of Lincoln's high command to focus only on Lincoln. He painted the portrait in Paris.