Original albumen photograph of the execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, 8.75 x 6.25, by Alexander Gardner, taken in Washington, D.C., on July 7, 1865. The albumen print on paper shows the scaffold and the dangling, hooded bodies of Mary Surratt (who kept a boardinghouse where the conspirators met), George Atzerodt (charged with the attempted assassination of Vice President Johnson), David Herold (who assisted Booth on his flight from Washington) and Lewis Payne (who attempted to assassinate Secretary of War Stanton). The photo’s deckled edges are preserved at top of sheet and is cloth matted and framed to an overall size of 17.75 x 16. Scattered creases and wrinkles, a couple small tears to bottom edge, and some light silvering and curling to vertical edges, otherwise very good condition. Provenance: William E. Simon Collection of Historical Documents, Christie’s, New York, June 14, 2005.
Entitled ‘After the Drop: The Execution of the Lincoln Assassination,’ this famous photograph is one of a series of ten images, "Hanging of the Lincoln Conspirators," captured by Alexander Gardner (assisted by Timothy O'Sullivan) on July 7, 1865, representing the official record of the execution at the Washington Penitentiary. The Scottish-born photographer was the sole photographer permitted to document the execution, but the photographs were considered too graphic for public consumption and were recreated as illustrations for Harper's Weekly.
Gardner's biographer, Mark Katz wrote that these scenes "remain the most vivid images from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It was the longest picture-story recording of an event to date, capturing a complex, significant series of events. Gardner and O'Sullivan's execution series was a 19th-century precursor of the kind of photo-journalism that subsequently became so important" (Witness to an Era, p. 192). RRAuction COA.
