Mary Todd Lincoln in Mourning / SOLD

Description

A wonderful clear image with very good contrast. Plain mount. Photographer’s backmark, Joseph Ward, Boston.

Mary Ann Lincoln (December 13, 1818 – July 16, 1882) was the wife of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States and as such, the first lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865. Today, she is commonly known as Mary Todd Lincoln, though she did not use the name Todd after marrying.

She was a member of a large, wealthy, slave-owning Kentucky family, and was well educated. Born Mary Ann Todd, she dropped the name Ann after her younger sister, Ann Todd (later Clark), was born. After finishing school she moved to Springfield, Illinois, where she lived with her married sister Elizabeth Edwards. Before she married Abraham Lincoln, Mary was courted by his long-time political opponent Stephen A. Douglas. She and Lincoln had four sons together, three of whom died young. Only the eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln, survived his parents.

She staunchly supported her husband throughout his presidency and was active in keeping national morale high during the Civil War. She acted as the White House social coordinator, throwing lavish balls and redecorating the White House at great expense; her spending was the source of much consternation. She was seated next to Abraham when he was assassinated in the President’s Box at Ford’s Theatre on Tenth Street in Washington on April 14, 1865. His death weighed heavily on her, as did the deaths of her sons before and after the assassination.

Mary suffered from numerous physical and mental health issues during her life. She had frequent migraines, which were exacerbated by a head injury in 1863. She was depressed for much of her life. She was briefly institutionalized for psychiatric disease in 1875, but later retired to the home of her sister. She died of a stroke in 1882 at age 63.

This image shows Mary Lincoln in mourning, her veil lifted back to show her face, as was customary etiquette for widows when not outdoors or in public spaces. She does not appear to be in what was called “deep” or “first” mourning, the earliest phase of mourning that lasted one year and one day. Although rules dictating appropriate mourning attire were complex and confusing by the mid-nineteenth century, with different sources offering conflicting rules, this period generally required black accessories, plain, heavy veils, and dresses made with lusterless fabrics like crape or bombazine—a dense fabric made of silk and wool. Mrs. Lincoln’s white cuffs and collar, embellished bonnet, and the absence of swaths of crinkled crape on her black gown suggest she is in “second” or “third” mourning, both of which required significantly less quantities of the fabrics specifically used for mourning.

Inventory Number: CDV 610