Pierre Morand, 1820 - Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln - c. 1864 - T-Shirt

This brown wash and pen drawing shows Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln walking together down a city street, recorded as ordinary public life rather than ceremony.

Visual Elements & Composition

The sheet is a vertical portrait format, dominated by warm parchment tan and sepia brown. Open, lighter washes fill the sky and street, while dense hatching builds the shadows in the clothing. Abraham Lincoln stands at left in profile, wearing a tall top hat, a dark frock coat and a cravat, with a cane in one hand and a hat in the other. Mary Todd Lincoln walks beside him in a dark, full-skirted dress with a fitted bodice, a lace-trimmed bonnet and a shawl draped over her arm. Behind them run an iron fence, a low brick wall with a stone finial, a two-storey building and a row of bare trees. Two men in hats stand in the distance at right.

Meaning & Symbolism

The drawing is titled as a portrait of the President of the United States and his wife, and it was made by Pierre Morand, born 1820, around 1864, during Lincoln's presidency. Its subject is a couple out walking in the city, arm in arm, with the pace and dress of the period recorded in detail. That domestic composure, shown during the Civil War years, reflects a time when the Lincolns were frequently seen in public. The work belongs to the tradition of contemporary pictorial reportage that gave the American public recognisable likenesses of its leaders during the war. The original is held in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

Walking Out in the Lincoln Print

Because the composition is vertical and the figures stand full length, the couple sits centred on the chest with the fence and trees rising above them. The quiet, unhurried pace of the scene comes through most clearly when the shirt is worn as a plain everyday piece, where the sepia tones and fine hatching stay the focus.