The making of this painting also illustrates the challenges faced by a presidential portrait painter. To recreate the scene, artist Francis Carpenter lived in the White House for six months, had cabinet members sit for him, had Mathew Brady take photos of the President, and asked Lincoln about his memory of the room that day.
Legendary American painter John Singer Sargent had his own challenges painting Theodore Roosevelt. After the President got tired of the artist following him in search of a good pose to capture, Roosevelt said, “The problem with you, Sargent, is that you don’t know what you want.”
“No,” the artist shot back. “The problem, Mr. President, is that you don’t know what a pose means.”
Roosevelt clutched a railing post and said, “I don’t!” At this point, Sargent said, “Don’t move an inch. You have it now.” And that was the portrait he painted for the story of Roosevelt clinging to the banister post.
