The Funeral of President Lincoln, New York, April 25th, 1865
Currier & Ives, American, 1857 - 1907
1865
Lithograph on wove paper
Image: 8 3/16 × 13 1/8 in. (20.8 × 33.3 cm)
Sheet: 11 3/4 × 16 1/16 in. (29.8 × 40.8 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Julia L. Whittier Fund
PR.959.112
Publisher
Currier & Ives, New York
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
19th century
Object Name
Research Area
On view
Inscriptions
Inscribed, on stone, lower left margin: [PU]BLISHED BY CURRIER & IVES; inscribed, on stone, lower center margin: Entered accroding to Act of Congress AD [AD in ligature] 1865 by Currier & Ives, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York; inscribed, on stone, lower right margin: 152 NASSAU ST NEW YOR[K]; inscribed, on stone, lower center: THE FUNERAL OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, NEW YORK, APRIL 25.TH [TH in superscript] 1865. / PASSING UNION SQUARE. / The magnificent Funeral Car was drawn by 16 grey horses richly caparisoned with ostrich plumes and cloth of black trimmed with silver bullion.; reverse, inscribed, in blue ink, lower left: 25.00 [00 in superscript]; reverse, stamped, in blue ink, lower right: DARTMOUTH COLLEGE / DEPT. OF ART AND / ARCHAEOLOGY
Label
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865, seemed to unite the citizens of the United States in their grief despite the still-fresh divisions of the Civil War. After leaving Washington, DC, the president’s remains traveled through eleven major cities before arriving at his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois. This print by Currier and Ives presents part of the funeral procession through New York City, where the hearse included a banner that read “George Washington, the Father: Abraham Lincoln, the Savior, of His Country.” Physically surrounded by American flags, the Great Seal of the United States, and other trappings of patriotism and mourning, the body of the president becomes a representation of the nation itself.
From the 2026 exhibition Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, curated by Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow), Michael Hartman (former Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), and Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collections)
Exhibition History
Death and Dying: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Anthropology 55, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 11-March 26, 1995.
Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; February 7-August 29, 2026.
Provenance
Raymond G. Clifton (1895-1968), Pine Cupboard Antique Shop, Franklin, New Hampshire; sold to present collection, 1959.
Catalogue Raisonne
Conningham (1949): 2206
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