After Clark Mills (American, 1810-1883). Abraham Lincoln. Plaster cast from the original plaster life mask taken in the White House, Washington, D.C., 11 February 1865. 10 1/2 X 8 1/2 X 6 3/4 in.

On 11 February 1865, Abraham Lincoln participated in the second plaster mask taken during his lifetime. The first is the well-known mask taken by Leonard Volk in April 1860 of a beardless Lincoln. This visage, taken by sculptor Clark Mills, was captured just months before his tragic death. Lincoln's secretary John Hay compared the two likenesses, remarking that the Volk mask: "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 as of one on whom sorrow and care had done their worst without victory is on all the features." 

Mills's original cast is held by the Smithsonian American History Museum (PL.004853, 28743). 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Art, Sculpture, Plaster, Life Mask, Life Cast] [Abraham Lincoln, Politics, Mary Todd Lincoln, 1860 Election, Election of 1860, 1864 Election, Election of 1864,  Lincoln Assassination, John Wilkes Booth]