John Sartain, Abraham Lincoln, The Martyr Victorious, Print

Description

Sartain’s Abraham Lincoln, The Martyr Victorious, depicts Lincoln’s apotheosis; as Washington receives Lincoln into heaven.

Being a “combination of the religious with the patriotic, or what one describes as civil religion” (Holzer, Harold. The Lincoln Image p.197).  “In the classical art of antiquity, apotheosis depicted the exaltation of a mortal to the company of the gods.”  Washington greets Lincoln in the clouds, while angels play harps and place a laurel wreath onto Lincoln’s head. 

Excellent; the colors are deep and evocative, with the figures rising out of the dark clouds below, up to the brightness of heaven. 

Quite Dramatic! 

Sartain, John.  ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE MARTYR. / VICTORIOUS.  NY:  W. H. Hermans, Penn Yan, Yates County, (1865).  Colored Lithograph; 15” x 10-3/4” (sight); framed to 23” x 29”. 

*There is some reflection in the glass. It is not a flaw in the print.