The Last Hours of Abraham Lincoln, Alonzo Chappell, 1868

The Last Hours of Lincoln

Although tragic, Lincoln’s assassination created opportunities for entrepreneurs such as the artist and engraver John B. Bachelder of Washington, D.C who arranged for everyone who visited the dying president to have their photographs taken at Mathew Brady’s studio. From those images, Bachelder created a design for a monumental painting and hired Alonzo Chappell to complete the canvas. Printed copies of the scene were sold by subscription.