It is inscribed on the left side "Gutzon Borglum/1908." The pedestal is inscribed "Presented to Congress by Eugene Meyer, Jr. The sculpture is 40 inches high and weighs about 375 pounds. In 1979, after a rearrangement of all sculpture in the Rotunda, they were placed on the floor below, in the Crypt at the center of the Capitol. The bust and pedestal were on display in the Rotunda for many years. The pedestal was specially designed by the sculptor and installed in 1911.
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Lincoln, the president's son, praised the bust in a letter to the artist on February 6, 1908: "I think it is the most extraordinarily good portrait of my father I have ever seen, and it impressed me deeply as a work of art which speaks for itself in the most wonderful manner."īorglum carved the monumental bust in 1908, and it was donated to the Congress by Eugene Meyer, Jr., and accepted by the Joint Committee on the Library in the same year. But his gentleness, his tenderness, his bigness and warmth of heart, in short, his spiritual side, the artist thinks left is marks more upon the left half of his countenance.and the artist has given, from that point of view, an almost poignant impression of the tensity and weight of the man's inner life. Borglum thinks that the right side of Lincoln's countenance was that in which the forcefulness of his character, his common sense, his executive capacity, his reasonableness, that is, his intellectual qualities, found chiefly their expression. Borglum wrote: "Lincoln's face was so much more developed on the right side that I have carved this head in the same way-that is developing that side." An April 1908 article in The Craftsman elaborated on the distinction:
LINCOLN OSIRIS FREE
The sculptor wrote in 1908: "It was cut directly into the marble by myself therefore there is no cast." He was interested in the free expression that came from the direct carving, and his goal was to convey a sense of Lincoln's character and personality rather than to create a realistic portrait. This difference between the two sides of Lincoln's face in the sculpture is an important part of the creative expression and personal style of the artist.īorglum carved the bust directly from the block of marble rather than creating a copy of a plaster cast made from a clay model. The proper left side of the head is almost impressionistically carved, with the ear barely defined.
![lincoln osiris lincoln osiris](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1b/a0/0f/1ba00fdda8efcfd4c0ca04eb2899e1c6.jpg)
Borglum captured the distinctive features of Lincoln's face, including his deep-set eyes, his prominent lower lip, and even his wart. In this bust by Gutzon Borglum, Abraham Lincoln's head seems to emerge from the rough-cut marble, an effect that can also be seen in the marble sculpture of Michelangelo and Borglum's friend Auguste Rodin.