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While many people were involved in the design and
construction of the Lincoln Memorial, it is the architect
Henry Bacon, sculptor Daniel Chester French, and artist
Jules Guerin who were most prominent.
Henry Bacon (1866–1924)
Henry Bacon was a New York–based architect who had
traveled widely in Europe and was especially fond of
ancient Greek architecture. His inspiration for the Lincoln
Memorial is the Athenian temple known as the Parthenon.
Bacon instinctively understood the symbolic role of the
memorial in reunifying a country torn apart by civil war
and deliberately chose building materials from as many
states as possible. The granite at the terrace level came
from Massachusetts, the marble of the upper steps and
outside façade came from Colorado, and the pink marble
floor of the chamber came from Tennessee. Indiana
limestone is used on the interior walls and columns of
the chamber, and the ceiling tiles are made of Alabama
marble. The statue of Lincoln itself is carved from
Georgia marble. Bacon was awarded the Gold Medal
of the American Institute of Architects, his profession’s
highest honor, for his work on the memorial.
Daniel Chester French (1850–1931)
Daniel Chester French was the leading American
sculptor of his day and his most famous work is the
statue of Lincoln, which dominates the interior of the
memorial. The plans originally specified a 12 ft. (3.6 m)
bronze statue, but it proved out of scale for the huge
building. The finished statue is 19 ft. (5.8 m) tall, which
means if Lincoln were standing, he would be 28 ft. (8.5 m)
tall. The sculpture took four years to complete, weighs
175 tons (159 metric tons), and is carved from 28 separate
blocks of white Georgia marble.
The People behind the Memorial
© Library of Congress
Drawing on tracing paper of Lincoln’s statue by Henry Bacon, 1917
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