LINCOLN — STEWART 425 



with the face, but without any detail (is this the effect of the tight 

 cap?), the closed eyes are in detail, but much of the face, together 

 with the hair and beard, are somewhat blurred (is this the effect of 

 reassembling the fragments?). In spite of such defects, the fact 

 remains that Mills's cast is a unique relic deserving of closer attention 

 than it has received. 



In 1889, the year after the Volk casts were presented to the Govern- 

 ment, Clark Mills's son, Theodore A. Mills, presented a plaster copy of 

 the second Lincoln mask to the National Museum (U.S.N.M. acces. No. 

 21843). The original plaster copy is said to have been owned by 

 John Hay, at one time Lincoln's assistant private sercetary ; its present 

 whereabouts is uncertain. 3 E. R. Wilson stated (1935, p. 263) , with- 

 out giving his source of information, that the plaster mask in the 

 Lincoln Museum in Washington is the one once owned by Hay, and 

 hence the original. The records of the Lincoln Museum have nothing 

 to say on this point. Thus, so far as now clearly established, the mask 

 in the National Museum has as good a claim as any to being the earliest 

 cop}' in existence. 



THE CASTS COMPARED 



Out of these historical considerations the following question 

 naturally arises: How do these two life masks, taken only 5 years 

 apart, compare in details? In answering this question we must re- 

 member what has been said about the different techniques used by the 

 two sculptors. Also that Lincoln was clean-shaven when the first 

 cast was made but later had a beard covering his chin and side cheeks. 



Comparisons of the accompanying photographs reveal these facts — 

 and more : They show the same gauntness, the same pattern of skin 

 creases, the same prominent right lower lip ; in other words, an as- 

 semblage of details in each case producing the same well-known ex- 

 pression. Actually, the beard and the differences in the casting 

 techniques seem to have contributed the main modifications. 



On the negative side it is interesting to note the absence of any signs 

 indicating that the original molds had been divided along the midline 

 of the face. Sculptors sometimes cut the mold into two equal parts 

 before making the first positive impression, so that the mold can be 

 taken off easily and used over again. When this has been done the 

 crack between the two parts of the mold leaves a slight ridge along the 

 midline of the mask which usually can be detected even though the 



•After this was written Dr. H. L. Shapiro illustrated in Natural History a bronze 

 replica of the Mills cast now owned by Clarence Hay of New York. He has told me also 

 that another member of the Hay family has a plaster replica. Lacking still, unfortunately, 

 is the documentation to show the sequence in which these copies were made. We know 

 only that after the death of Clark Mills in 1883 his sons parted with two or three copies of 

 .the Lincoln mask, one (two?) going to Colonel Hay (1886), and another to the U. S. 

 National Museum (1S89). The sequence of the gifts does not necessarily indicate the 

 sequence of manufacture. 



