Clark Mills' Lincoln Life Mask

[Dave Taylor]

I'm trying to figure out when Abraham Lincoln sat for his life mask with sculptor Clark Mills. It's clear the mask was made in February of 1865. Most sources give the date of creation as February 11 and associate this date with Theodore Augustus Mills, Clark's eldest son. However, in June of 1865, Clark's second son, Theophilus Fisk Mills, applied for a patent for a bust of Lincoln based on the life mask. In that document, Fisk gives the date the life mask was created as February 14, exactly two months before Lincoln's assassination.

I don't have the largest library when it comes to the living Lincoln. Does anyone have a good source for the claim that Lincoln sat for the mask on February 11 rather than the 14th?

[Gene C]

I checked "Lincoln Day By Day" by Earl S Miers in the Internet Archive.
No mention of Lincoln sitting for his life mask on any of those days.

https://archive.org/details/lincolndayby...2/mode/2up

[STS Lincolnite]

I have always used the February 11 date for when Lincoln SAT for the making of the plaster cast (per TA Mills). The date of the 14th COULD be the date a final mask was made from the plaster cast. I do remember reading that the plaster cast came off in pieces. If I remember that correctly, it would have to have been then put back together and then the mold used to make the actual sculpted mask (maybe took a day or two by the time the plaster mask dried adequately, etc.). So I guess both those dates could be true, just depending on how terms were defined.

I am at work but will check my files when I get home. I will also reach out to Dave Wiegers to see if he has anything more specific in his files on Lincoln sculptures.

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Dave,

I just read the document you attached and I think it reads similar to what I described above.

The first sentence of the paragraph reads in part "from a cast taken from the living face on the (tenth or eleventh? - hard to tell on scan) of Feb.1865"

The document is a little hard to read due to artifact but it looks to me like the February 14th date is associated not to the date the cast was made, but to the date the sculpture was modeled. The second part of the (run on) sentence says something I can't read then " inscription (something that looks likes modeled) from a cast from the living face Feb. 14 1865, and..." The sentence construction is weird, but I think the Feb 14th date is related to the modeling (presumably of the sculpture) not the casting of his face.

Now to figure out if that word is tenth or eleventh of Feb in the first sentence.

As I said in the earlier post, I will check what I have in files when I get home tonight.

[Steve]

(Today 01:04 PM)STS Lincolnite Wrote:  The first sentence of the paragraph reads in part "from a cast taken from the living face on the (tenth or eleventh? - hard to tell on scan) of Feb.1865"

It reads

"in the month of Feb. 1865"

So no specific date given.

[STS Lincolnite]

(Today 01:42 PM)Steve Wrote:  It reads

"in the month of Feb. 1865"

So no specific date given.

Thanks Steve. That's what I get for trying to read this on my phone (and with aging eyes) instead of waiting to get to a computer.

[Dave Taylor]

Here's my attempt at a full transcription of Fisk Mills' patent:

Quote:Fisk Mills, of Washington, District of Columbia
Letters Patent No. 2082 - Dated June 6, 1865
Design for a Bust of Abrm. Lincoln

The schedule referred to in these letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Fisk Mills, of the City of Washington, and District of Columbia, have originated and produced a new bust of the late President Abraham Lincoln, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description reference being [had?] to the accompanying photographs making part of this specification.

This Bust is modeled from a cast taken from the living face in the month of Feb. 1865, by Clark Mill’s process and bears the following inscription: Modeled from a cast taken from the living face Feb. 14th 1865, and differs from all other likenesses in being a perfect facsimile of the face, physiognomically and phrenologically speaking. The callipers being applicable to the cast for minute exactness of scutures and organs. Other busts being modeled by looking at the person, lose this exactness, as the callipers are not minutely applicable to the living face, and the fidelity wholly entrusted to the accuracy of the [agent?].

What I claim as my production and desire to secure by Letters Patent is the design for the head and neck of the bust herein set forth.

Fisk Mills

Witnesses
C. H. Fowler
T. J. Chamberlain

I still interpret Fisk's words to say that the cast was made on February 14, but I understand where you're coming from Scott.