SPRINGFIELD — Baffled by a newly discovered photographic portrait purported to be a picture of Abraham Lincoln, state historians say they think the matter is one for the people to decide.
So they are putting a copy of the portrait on display at a Lincoln historic site here--along with a ballot box so that visitors can vote on whether they think the picture is the Civil War president or just some contemporary who bore a resemblance.
The votes will be tallied on Oct. 5, a day before the original picture goes up for auction at Christie's New York auction house.
That way, buyers thinking of bidding on the item will be equipped with the opinions of a "particularly educated public," in the words of one local Lincoln expert.
"Who knows Lincoln better than the people who choose to visit Lincoln sites?" asked Kim Bauer, a researcher for the Illinois State Historical Library. "They have an affinity for Lincoln that goes beyond this small controversy."
The opinion poll takes to the public a debate that has been waged among scholars in recent days, ever since Christie's disclosed that it would offer the portrait for sale.
Some experts doubt it is an authentic image of the 16th president, noting that the subject's face looks a little unfamiliar and his clothes seem to be worn. Even Christie's is leaving room for doubt by naming the item "Portrait of a Gentleman Believed to be Abraham Lincoln, Age 34."
But the auctioneers also call the image a "serious contender" for status as the earliest-known photograph of Lincoln. They argue that the unbearded man in the picture may look unfamiliar because people are accustomed to seeing Lincoln with facial hair, and also because the old photographic process may have distorted the image somewhat. The picture is a daguerreotype, an early type of photograph made on a chemically treated metal or glass plate.
And though tattered, the man's clothes are well-tailored and of a quality a traveling country lawyer might have worn, Christie's says.
Christie's is planning to take its case to the public by putting the original daguerreotype on display around the country, including a showing at its Michigan Avenue gallery in Chicago from Sept. 23 to 25.
Of course, the vote the auction house cares about will take place a few days later, when the piece goes up for bid. One estimate puts the value of the image at $1 million if people believe it is real.
If it is, the 1843 daguerreotype would be the earliest-known image of Lincoln ever made. The photograph now believed to be the oldest image of Lincoln was made between 1846 and 1849 and came from the Lincoln family's personal collections. Lincoln's son, Robert, told at least three biographers that photograph was the earliest one ever made of his father.
But after extensive detective work, Christie's researchers think there's a chance Robert just didn't know about this particular picture. Now owned by a New York couple, the portrait once belonged to Alice Hay Wadsworth, the daughter of Lincoln secretary John Hay.
"Why would Alice Hay Wadsworth have a picture of someone who looked like Lincoln for any other reason than her father giving it to her?" asked Rick Wester, Christie's vice president in charge of the photographs department.
Furthermore, a computerized analysis of the photograph by a University of Illinois at Chicago professor suggests strong similarities in facial structure between Lincoln and the man in the daguerreotype.
Professor Lewis L. Sadler conducted a mathematical analysis of the facial dimensions of the daguerreotype and three known Lincoln photographs and reported observing similarities typically seen only in photos of the same individual or identical twins.
Others also have suggested there are similarities in the vein patterns between the daguerreotype and other Lincoln pictures.
Nevertheless, historians in the Land of Lincoln aren't convinced. The circuitous route from Lincoln to modern-day owners is troublesome to Illinois state historian Tom Schwartz.
"The provenance is questionable and highly suspect," he said. "There's no reason to believe Lincoln would have given the first picture ever taken of him to his secretary."
Also, there is no companion portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln, who was his wife at the time the portrait was made.
Besides, said Schwartz, Lincoln looks kind of scruffy in this daguerreotype, and his wife wouldn't have let him leave the house that way.
A copy of the daguerreotype was put on display at the historic Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once served in the state legislature, on Friday--a day after a former researcher for the Springfield-based Abraham Lincoln Papers Project pleaded guilty to stealing several Lincoln documents and trying to sell them. Sean Brown could serve up to 7 years in prison for the offense.
News of the theft a few months ago enraged historians and the sizable population of Lincoln buffs in the area who follow the world of Lincoln memorabilia closely.
Those are the people Bauer hopes will come by and take a look at the Lincoln picture now on display.
"Sometimes historians put too serious a spin on everything," Bauer said. "We've got the vein pattern, the morphological studies . . .
"But only a person can look at a picture and say, `Yeah, I recognize the face. That's him.' "