Grant - 4 Star General

[civilwarincolor]

Probably composition. The extra chair anchors him to a side of the picture and doesn't leave him floating.

Actually I have to agree with Horace Porter, this is a 100% image of him as used for Healy's painting "The peacemakers". Wonder if there are photographs of the others that match their poses for the painting?

 

[ole]

Actually I have to agree with Horace Porter, this is a 100% image of him as used for Healy's painting "The peacemakers". Wonder if there are photographs of the others that match their poses for the painting?

Different strokes, different photographers. Like any other artist, photags thought of the end result and composed their photos according to their artistic talents.

I am not an artist, so I don't understand the whys and wherefores of composition, but there must have been some sense of it, right or wrong, among the community.

 

[civilwarincolor]

Different strokes, different photographers. Like any other artist, photags thought of the end result and composed their photos according to their artistic talents.

I am not an artist, so I don't understand the whys and wherefores of composition, but there must have been some sense of it, right or wrong, among the community.

I am agreement that photographers tended to feel that the print was the final result of their art, in this case I suspect that Horace Porter was correct and that Healy may have commissioned Brady to have this photograph produced so that he could take his time with the portrait. The pose that Grant has is not typical of the day and it is a perfect match for the portrait, also the detail of the 2nd chair really makes sense.

I found some interesting notes on the painting here including Sherman's comments on the image. The original version of the image was destroyed by fire, but Healy had made a number of copies and the current one in the White House dates from a version discovered in 1922. Turns out that Lincoln's image was used again the following year (1869) in Healy's unsuccessful bid to paint the official White House portrait.

Here is the 1869 image of Lincoln that Healy did. It was later purchased by Robert Todd Lincoln and was bequest to the White House by his daughter in 1937. It is now on display in the State Dining Room.