A. Kromer
(Bavarian, active 19th century).
Death Bed of Lincoln, 1867
oil on canvas, framed
signed and dated, Gemalt A. Kromer 1867.
27 x 18 1/2 in. (sight), 28 1/2 x 19 1/2 in. (canvas), 28 x 37 1/2 in. (frame)
In the weeks and months following the death of Abraham Lincoln, numerous enterprising printers created fanciful views of the president's death watch which were eagerly snapped up by an American public as much in mourning for those lost during the Civil War as for Lincoln himself.
Death Bed of Lincoln is an oil on canvas copy of an image originally created by artist N.P. Beers and printed by A. Brett & Co. of Philadelphia in 1865. Like many images of a similar style the artist has filled the room with figures important to Lincoln during his last hours; the room in which Lincoln died measured approximately 10 x 18 feet, making the room far too small to have accommodated so many mourners at once. Pictured are General Christopher C. Auger, Surgeon General Joseph Barnes, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Postmaster General William Dennison, General Henry Halleck, Lincoln's private secretary John Hay, surgeon Charles Leale, Mary Todd Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln, Comptroller of the Currency Hugh McCullouch, General Montgomery C. Meigs, Attorney General James Speed, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Senator Charles Sumner, Secretary of the Interior John P. Usher, and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.
Little is known of artist A. Kromer, though some paintings of church interiors executed by him survive. Kromer's painting is slightly larger than the original as printed by A. Brett & Co.
This lot is located in Chicago.
