Madison's Historic Lincoln Portrait Unveiled At Smithsonian

MADISON, NJ — The rare and historic life-sized portrait of Abraham Lincoln that hung in Borough Hall for eight decades is now on display at the Smithsonian.

The piece of Madison history has left the borough as part of a five-year loan to the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. A delegation from the borough, including Mayor Bob Conley, traveled down to Washington for the official unveiling on Friday.

At the Jan. 9 council meeting, Hartley Dodge Foundation Trustee Anne MacCowatt declared that the foundation had accepted a formal request to loan the artwork to the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.

"As only one of three known life-size paintings of the 16th president, this oil on canvas painting has been hanging in Hartley Dodge Memorial for over 80 years, as a gift from Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge to the residents of the borough. We look forward to sharing it with millions of visitors in D.C. over the next five years," the borough said in a statement.

The 9-foot-tall, creation of Dutch painter W.F.K. Travers was hung alongside George Stuart's historic 1796 "Lansdowne" painting of George Washington. These two paintings happened to hang next to each other in the main gallery of Philadelphia's Centennial Exhibition in 1876.

"This is the first time that we know of that they are going to be back together again for a little while," MacCowatt said.

On early Friday morning, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy were given a sneak preview of the historic painting.

The foundation was also previously able to determine through research that the Lincoln painting was once in the public eye, but it was over a century ago. The painting is thought to have hung in several areas of the Capitol Building during the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, and Congress had previously attempted to acquire it.

The painting will be returned to Madison after the five-year loan is paid off, according to the Hartley Dodge trustees. In the interim, they have ordered a life-size, high-quality digital replica to take its place in the council room.