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jtw1313

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Looks to me like it's meant to be Abe Lincoln holding his notes for the Gettysburg Address.
 

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I would say Lincoln, and that paint looks really old!
 

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Lincoln didn't have a moustache but that could just be an error or a little artistic license.
 

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I agree it's a bad painting of Lincoln at Gettysburg.

The crackle finish looks like an old-school fake antiquing job - using brake fluid and a torch...
 

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I'm not sold on Lincoln. It might be a result of the "antiquing" but in addition to the moustache, it looks as though the subject is wearing glasses.
 

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I'm not sold on Lincoln. It might be a result of the "antiquing" but in addition to the moustache, it looks as though the subject is wearing glasses.

That's what I thought as well...eyeglasses.
 

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I'm not sold on Lincoln. It might be a result of the "antiquing" but in addition to the moustache, it looks as though the subject is wearing glasses.

That's what I thought as well...eyeglasses.


The bow tie and the coat (especially the lapels) are very Lincoln-esque, although of course many gents of the period would be similarly dressed. It's very much affluent civilian dress, not military,

It’s difficult to say whether the dark area above/around the lip (but lighter than the beard below) is actually a moustache or artistic shadow. Although Lincoln was never photographed wearing spectacles and only rarely seen in paintings or drawings wearing them, he certainly had them. A number of pairs survive, and so does an optician’s prescription showing them to be +2.12 reading glasses.

At Gettysburg, Professor Henry E. Jacobs, then a student at Gettysburg’s Lutheran Seminary and an eye witness to the speech, recollected that:

“As Mr. Everett was closing his oration, Mr. Lincoln, I thought, was showing some of that nervousness, which, according to Cicero, characterizes all successful oratory. His mind evidently was not on what Mr. Everett was saying, but on his own speech. He drew from his pocket a metallic case and adjusted a pair of steel glasses near the top of his nose. Then, reaching into the side pocket of his coat, he produced a crumpled sheet of paper, which he first carefully smoothed and then read for a few minutes. By this time Mr. Everett had reached his final periods.”

There are divided opinions on whether this picture taken on the day does or doesn’t show him wearing them:

Linccoln.webp
 

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There are divided opinions on whether this picture taken on the day does or doesn’t show him wearing them:

View attachment 1949137

Based on the photo I wouldn't be surprised if there were divided opinions on whether it is actually Lincoln. :laughing7:

Anyway, I don't have any better suggestions. This "folk art" might be a rendering of Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address but if it is, it's a crappy one.
 

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I've changed my mind. It must be Lincoln. He's wearing a red shirt and everyone knows that the redshirts always get killed.
 

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