18 April 2011

Abraham Lincoln colorized portrait


From The Oval Office weblog of the White House Museum website.

7 comments:

  1. Wouldn't you think somebody would have suggested that he comb his hair and straighten his tie for the photo?

    He really was an odd-looking duck. His image is so familiar to us, we tend not ot notice. But it's even more striking with the colorization.

    --Swift Loris

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  2. What Swift Loris said. The color makes you kind of take a second/closer look at everything. Like his suit. Look at that thing, it's freaking beautiful. Where can I get a suit like that?

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  3. I never noticed (in the original of that photo) that he has something in his hands. Anyone know what it is? I don't know why I need to know so badly. :-)

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  4. I noticed that, too, when I looked at this version. The long thing in his right hand looked to me like the stem of glasses, and he did wear glasses -

    http://www.awesomestories.com/assets/abraham-lincoln-glasses-in-his-pocket

    Googling those words, I do find the photo labeled ""Abraham Lincoln, seated, holding spectacles and a pencil" at Shorpy -

    http://www.shorpy.com/Abraham-Lincoln-1865

    This has probably been researched and reported somewhere, but I haven't found a definitive source. And why was the small thing at the fingertips colorized green? Does the guy at the White House history blog know something?

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  5. Addendum - the Library of Congress entry for the photo does include the words "spectacles" and "pencil."

    http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98504569/

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  6. Even uglier in color.

    It's been suggested that he may have had Marfan syndrome. His looks caused the speculation, which is why I'm mentioning it.

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  7. This was the last photograph made before his assassination. It's often been said that the presidency ages its holder; you're looking at a man who has been just about used up by it. Think about the period of our history he presided over and had such an effect on. The vilification he had to put up with in the press makes what they're saying about Obama today almost laudatory.

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