Lincoln portrait by Matthew Brady

Portrait taken by an assistant to Matthew Brady

Walt Whitman in Specimen Days: “Probably the reader has seen physiognomies (often old farmers or sea captains) that, behind their homeliness, or even ugliness, held superior points so subtle, yet so palpable, making the real life of their faces almost as impossible to depict as a wild perfume or fruit taste, or a passionate tone of the living voice — and such was Lincoln’s face, the peculiar color, the lines, the eyes, the mouth. Of technical beauty it had nothing — but to the eye of a great artist it was a rare study, a feast and fascination.”