Stump the German

[Eva Elisabeth]

Another wonderful guess, Roger, but the gentleman painted a lady's avatar.

[RJNorton]

Emanuel Leutze!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Brilliant, Roger! It is Emanuel Leutze!

Short before Fanny died, Seward had hired him to paint Fanny's portrait (Linda's avatar). Fanny died before the painting was completed. Seward also asked Leutze to design the tombstones of Fanny's and Frances' graves.
       
Actually Leutze was an American history painter. Another of his paintings depicting two Sewards is "Signing the Alaska Treaty of Cessation":
   
(L. to R.: Robert S. Chew, William H. Seward, William Hunter, Mr. Bodisco, Russian Ambassador Baron de Stoeckl, Charles Sumner, Fredrick W. Seward)

Hired for 20,000$ by Montgomery C. Meigs, in 1861 Leutze painted a mural in the Capitol entitled "Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way" that symbolizes Manifest Destiny. A brighter study hangs in the Smithsonian American Art Museum:
       
Leutze's most famous painting though is probably "Washington Crossing the Delaware" (1851), which is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts:
   
For more info on Emanuel Leutze, please go here:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Leutze

Roger, you win my best wishes for a very good week including warmer temperatures!

[Linda Anderson]

That's a great trivia question, Eva!

This is from a Seward House Museum Facebook posting about Fanny's dress:

"This dress, which we keep safely in storage except on special occasion (like this Saturday for the Fanny Seward tour!), belonged to William Seward's daughter, Fanny. The entire costume seems to be highly customizable to adapt for many occasions. There is only one skirt, which is very full with a bustle in the back, but then there is a jacket, two blouses, and a pair of net sleeves. There is a lot of lavender taffeta, boning, netting, lace, and velvet...

"This post is about the dress, but I'll tell you a little bit about the Leutze portrait as well. If we were to look at this painting in 1866, we would immediately know that it is a postmortem portrait based on the visual clues. I do not know what they all are or what exactly they mean, but the ominous sky, the one white (gloved?) hand, the downward facing bouquet, and the morning glory would all tell us something about her death. Fanny's sister-in-law Anna actually modeled for Leutze, and Fanny's face was based on a recent photograph."

https://www.facebook.com/SewardHouseMuse...4961365224

[Eva Elisabeth]

Which two "Lincoln Conspirators" served in the U.S. House of Representatives?

[Eva Elisabeth]

No ideas?
Hint #1: Please notice the quotation marks!

[RJNorton]

I am guessing this has to do with the cipher messages Ray Neff discovered that were allegedly written by Lafayette Baker.

One sentence read, "There were at least eleven members of Congress involved in the plot, no less than twelve Army officers, three Naval officers and at least twenty four civilians, of which one was a governor of a loyal state."

Are the two names you are looking for among the above-mentioned eleven members of Congress?

[Eva Elisabeth]

A very smart guess, Roger, but my question sort of refers to the "original characters".

Hint #1: The business both were originally in requires showing "split personalities".

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint #2: Hint #1 meant think "show biz" or similar, now think out of the 19th-century-box.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint #3: They "were" David Herold and Samuel Arnold, but this isn't the entire solution yet.

[Eva Elisabeth]

My last hint: Think movie! (Or research movie!)

[RJNorton]

This is a hard one, Eva!!!

[Eva Elisabeth]

I am out of hints, and it's probably a research question. Maybe folks are just too busy right now searching Easter eggs instead of solving the "Lincoln Conspiracy".

[wpbinzel]

(04-01-2015 05:17 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  This is a hard one, Eva!!!

Just so you know, Roger, I posed this question to Eva, and she had the answer without needing a single hint....

[RJNorton]

Bill, I was thinking Birth of a Nation, but I know that can't be right.