Description

This engraving depicts Abraham Lincoln as a young adult in New Salem, Illinois, chopping wood. He is shown wearing a patterned shirt with a bandana around his neck and light colored trousers with one suspender. His hands are gripping the handle of the axe which he has raised above his head. There is a log building behind Lincoln with trees on the other side. Lincoln is working on a pile of wood beside another building to his right. Handwritten in pencil below the image on the viewer's left: 4th Proof from Copper Plate - "Young Lincoln in New Salem." The inscription "To A.J. McAndless with best wishes from the artist--Pierre Nuyttens, 3/21/41" is handwritten in pencil below the image in the center and to the viewer's right. Embossed in the lower right corner of the margin is a circular shape with the words "Original etching by Pierre Nuyttens" within the circle. Part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum