Henry Gugler, Abraham Lincoln Steel Engraved Lithograph, Framed

Description

Henry Gugler’s Abraham Lincoln Lithograph, the largest engraving of Lincoln during its day!

Shortly after Lincoln’s assassination, many artists sought to commemorate the fallen President with paintings, statues and other forms of portraiture. John H. Littlefield, a campaign worker for Lincoln during the election of 1860, commissioned Gugler, then a vignette engraver for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, to create an engraving from which prints could be created and sold. After two years of labor, the largest engraving of our sixteenth president was produced. The image on the two-by-three foot steel plate, and the prints made from it, capture the distinguished look of one of our nation’s most cherished leaders. This is one of the largest, most impressive, and the most desirable Lincoln line portraits ever engraved on steel.

Many of the prints from this era include Victorian symbols of mourning. Gugler took a more subtle approach with this print. The shadow across the lower port of this image brings to mind the shadow of grief that had fallen upon the nation.

The work was a career achievement for Gugler, who went on to form one of Milwaukee’s largest printing houses, Gugler Lithographic Company in 1878. Milwaukee is still very proud of her native son; retaining the original plate at the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

Very good+, boardwalk margins. 

Gugler, Henry Engraved Bust Portrait, titled LINCOLN. New York: William Pate & Co., (1869) 32″ x 25″ inches; overall 36″ x 29″ matted and in a fine and detailed frame,