By Ann Nichols
annsnichols@aol.com
About three years ago, local attorney Jeff Boehm began reading a number of books about Abraham Lincoln. He became fascinated by this president who invited so many of his detractors to be in his cabinet of advisors. But it was Carl Sandburg’s six-volume account of Lincoln that really engaged him.
“The strategies of the Civil War don’t interest me as much as the personalities and motivations of the major figures in our history,” said Mr. Boehm.
Having already acquired a bust of Thomas Jefferson and a portrait of George Washington, Mr. Boehm wanted to add a likeness of Lincoln to his collection. However, all he could find were photographs. And, all but one of these depicted the late president as a sad and serious man.
“Finally, I did run across a picture of Lincoln with his son Tad that was taken just after Lee surrendered at Appomatox,” he said. “There was just a hint of a smile on his face and I decided to commission Cessna Decosimo to reproduce it in a drawing.”
Mr. Boehm gave him a number of books containing photographs of Lincoln and Mr. Decosimo studied them carefully.
“Actually, Cessna told me that he felt that he knew the image of Lincoln so well that the could make a sculpture of his head,” said Mr. Boehm.
The final drawing is based on several photographs and the slight hint of a smile can be seen.
“Carl Sandburg wrote that when Lincoln smiled, his face lit up,” said Mr. Boehm. “”It’s too bad that all we have in posterity is the image of a sad man.”