Seated Lincoln Statue, Lincoln Memorial

What it is

This is a lantern slide photograph of the seated marble statue of Abraham Lincoln, created by sculptor Daniel Chester French between 1918 and 1922. The statue sits inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., showing Lincoln seated in a chair with his hands resting on the armrests. Carved text above the statue honors his memory. The slide is held by the Media Library of Art and Visual History at Humboldt University of Berlin.

Why it matters

Completed decades after Lincoln's death, this monument represents how Americans chose to remember him as a national symbol of unity and leadership. Daniel Chester French's design became one of the most recognizable images of Lincoln in American culture, shaping how generations have pictured him.

Look closer

• Why might the sculptor have chosen to show Lincoln seated rather than standing?
• What does the formal, monumental style of the statue suggest about how Lincoln was regarded after his death?
• What is left out of a statue that a photograph or letter from his lifetime might show instead?