Artist's Proof Engraving: Lincoln Reads the Emancipation Proclamation to His Cabinet

"Finally, came the week of the battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no longer. The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our side. I was then staying at the Soldier's Home (three miles out of Washington). Here I finished writing the second draft of the preliminary proclamation; came up on Saturday; called the Cabinet together to hear it, and it was published the following Monday."

That's Abraham Lincoln's account of his reading the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet, as told in F. B. Carpenter's account of his staying at the White House to capture this historic moment on canvas, Six Months at the White House.

A signed original 1866 artist's proof engraving of this reading of the Emancipation Proclamation failed to meet the reserve price on eBay on August 14, 2009. The highest bid received was $2,125. It is now for sale on eBay as a Buy It Now for $2,250.

see the original listing on eBay

Francis Bicknell Carpenter painted "The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation" in 1864. Thereafter, he commissioned Alexander Hay Ritchie to make an engraving of the painting. The eBay listing notes this about the painting itself:

The positioning of the Cabinet members betrays their political positions: Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton were early supporters of the proclamation and were therefore placed closer to the President. Carpenter placed the more conservative members of the Cabinet farther to Lincoln's left. The moment depicted in the engraving is just after President Lincoln has completed reading the proposed Emancipation Proclamation to the Cabinet and Secretary of State William H. Seward is counseling that it not be issued until the Union can claim some success on the battlefield.

The original artist's proof listed on eBay is an engraving on paper, 28-1/2" x 38-1/2"; image is, 21" x 32"; framed dimensions are 34-3/4" x 44-3/4". It is signed in the bottom corners: "F. B. Carpenter" and "A. H. Ritchie."

 

Abraham Lincoln was the first subscriber for a signed, artist's proof of the engraved version, but he did not live to receive it. Instead, when it was published in early 1866, the first signed, artist's proof was presented to Mary Lincoln. It now hangs in Robert Todd Lincoln's study at Hildene, in Manchester, Vermont.

Carpenter's original painting now hangs in the U.S. Capitol, outside of the Senate Chamber.