The Lincoln Memorial Pentimenti

JF Ptak Science Books     Quick Post

Henry Bacon  (1866-1924) was the architect of the Lincoln Memorial--it was his last major assignment and I should say his greatest.  I found in the Library of Congress some of the drawings  he made (completed 1910-1917) envisioning the space, and they included what might very loosely be called pentimenti of the statue of Lincoln that was to be provided by Daniel Chester Smith (1850-1931). They are really just placeholders, models, of how the finished statue would occupy the space.  When I saw these drawings I realized how perfectly the finished works lived together. 

And this:

And this