About This Page
This page is part of the Museum of Hoaxes' Hoax Photo Archive, a catalog of photo fakery throughout history. Images are categorized by theme, technique of fakery, and time period.
Hoax Museum Archives
Lincoln’s Portrait
Status: Fake (composite)
Technique of Fakery: Composite Images, Drawn-in Details.
Date and Time Period: Late 1860s; (Before 1900)
Themes: Head Transplants, Politics, Striking a Pose
Technique of Fakery: Composite Images, Drawn-in Details.
Date and Time Period: Late 1860s; (Before 1900)
Themes: Head Transplants, Politics, Striking a Pose
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The standing portrait of Lincoln (left) was created soon after the American Civil War. Although it hung in many classrooms, Lincoln never posed for it. Instead, an unknown entrepreneur created it by cutting-and-pasting a headshot of Lincoln taken from a photograph by Mathew Brady (middle) onto a portrait of the Southern leader John Calhoun (right). This was done because there were hardly any appropriate ‘heroic-style’ portraits of Lincoln made during his life. In the Calhoun image, the papers on the table say “strict constitution,” “free trade,” and “the sovereignty of the states.” In the Lincoln image, these words have been changed to read, “constitution,” “union,” and “proclamation of freedom.”
References:
MacDougall, C. (1958, 2nd ed.). Hoaxes. Dover Publications: 80.
Mitchell, W.J. (1992). The Reconfigured Eye. MIT Press: 204-208.
MacDougall, C. (1958, 2nd ed.). Hoaxes. Dover Publications: 80.
Mitchell, W.J. (1992). The Reconfigured Eye. MIT Press: 204-208.
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