Abraham Lincoln Life Mask by Clark Mills, 1865
date: label: date made
content: 1865
name: label: associated person
content: Lincoln, Abraham
label: associated person
content: Mills, Clark
label: maker
content: Mills, Clark
notes: label: Description
content: On February 11, 1865, about two months before his death, Abraham Lincoln permitted sculptor Clark Mills to make this life mask of his face. This was the second and last life mask made of Lincoln. The strain of the presidency was written on Abraham Lincoln’s face. His secretary, John Hay, remarked on the dramatic difference in Lincoln’s two life masks. He noted that the first mask, produced by Leonard Volk in 1860, “is a man of fifty-one, and young for his years. . . . It is a face full of life, of energy, of vivid aspiration. . . . .The other is so sad and peaceful in its infinite repose . . . . a look as of one on whom sorrow and care had done their worst without victory is on all the features.”
label: Description
content: Gift of Theodore Mills, the artist’s son, 1889
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: depicted
content: Presidents
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, General History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Selections from the Abraham Lincoln Collection
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Rubenstein, Harry R.. Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Theodore A. Mills
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PL.004853
label: catalog number
content: 4853
label: accession number
content: 21843
objectType: label: Object Name
content: mask, life
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plaster (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: painted (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 in x 8 1/2 in x 9 in; 17.78 cm x 21.59 cm x 22.86 cm