A surprising influence on Obama’s portrait: Abraham Lincoln

[L Verge]

The title of the article I linked to declares that the work will "buck the trend of instantly forgettable presidential paintings." The following explanation for the botanical garden in the background is: Like the first lady in Sherald's painting, the president in Wiley's does not smile, instead offering a penetrating stare. Obama, the veritable picture of self-restraint, is a New Adam in a lush and visually tumultuous modern Eden.

Wiley's work often makes fun of the overblown pomp-and-circumstance of European Old Master art. This painting is certainly vivid and unusual, but he's toned it down from the florid regalia of uniformed pageantry his portraits often employ. He has identified the flowers in his landscape as symbols of places meaningful to the president — Hawaii (jasmine), Kenya (African lilies), Chicago (chrysanthemums, the city's official flower).

Personally, if I remember these two portraits in the next few years, I will be remembering the plants and the stern look on Obama's face and that voluminous dress that overshadows Mrs. Obama's appearance. I will be more inclined to remember the warm and relaxed pose of George W. Bush. I served on the board of advisors of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and attended a reception at the White House with Mr. Bush (even got to shake his hand). We got to watch him arrive at the White House in a helicopter and run across the lawn to meet us under the gaze of Mr. Lincoln's portrait. His warmth and sincerity were quite obvious throughout the event.