Bar Association Unveils Unique Portrait of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln’s face is a common sight in Illinois (it graces most cars), and most pictures show him sporting the type beard known as a “Shenandoah.” But before Lincoln became President, he wore no facial hair while he practiced law in Illinois.

At an event on October 24, the Lake County Bar Association (LCBA) will unveil a portrait of Lincoln that will soon hang in the Lake County Courthouse. Noted photographer Alexander Hesler took the picture in 1860 in Springfield, Illinois. The portrait shows Lincoln’s face as it would have appeared to the clients he served in his legal practice in Springfield—beardless.

The portrait came to the LCBA via an anonymous donation and accompanied by the request that it hang in the Lake County Courthouse. The portrait’s original glass-plate positives belong to the nonprofit Illinois State Historical Society. The Society seeks to have it installed in all of the state’s courthouses for the yearlong Illinois bicentennial celebration, which begins on December 3­, 2017.

At the Bar Association’s luncheon event on October 24, Lake County Bar Association President Jennifer Howe will present the picture to Chief Judge Jorge Ortiz on behalf of the LCBA’s members. Ty Rohrer from the Waukegan History Museum will also be present to speak about Lincoln’s brief visit to Waukegan on April 2, 1860, and about Lincoln more generally.

Howe notes that “as a lawyer, Lincoln exemplified qualities that all good attorneys should embrace: his writings encouraged lawyers to be diligent, to cultivate their oratorical skills, to discourage litigation and promote compromise, to charge a reasonable fee, and to be honest in all that we do.” Howe says that these remain “guiding ideals to live by as lawyers,” but she also points out that many of them “are universal values for all Illinoisans to espouse.” The portrait will thus remind visitors at the Lake County Courthouse of the higher ideals that make a community thrive, be it Lake County, the State of Illinois, or the United States more generally.

Photo credit: Alexander Hessler [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.