The Left Side of Lincoln's Face

So after finding this highly amusing cartoon last night I went on a search to find out why Lincoln was facing right while all the other profiles were facing left.

I came across many interesting theories such as; he was the only president under which there was a civil war, putting him opposed to half the country, Lincoln was against 'greenbacks' and the mint in general, he was against slavery and so he was minted on a 'brown' coin and facing the right, It was just an artistic choice and so forth and so on.

However, it wasn't until I read this very interesting study by Betsy Mathisen that I found the answer.

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Lincoln's Distinctive Face

Abraham Lincoln is noted for his very distinctive face. When I first started researching this project, I contacted Albert Kaplan, who has researched Lincoln’s face for decades. His response: "While the artist was not Rembrandt, the subject was Lincoln. The hair over his left ear; the left eye is too far left; the tuft on the right side by his right ear; the nose is good; the left eyebrow is higher than the right, the right eyebrow is good, as is the left; the philtral columns are superb; the upper lip Cupid's bow is clear; the chin is excellent; the lay of the suit-coat is excellent. The left eye clinches it. While there might have been more than one young man with similar general characteristics, imagine the probability that there were two young men in America at the time with highly similar characteristics plus a drooping left upper eyelid, and a left eye that seems to be looking too far left. Plus the crease at the end of his left lower lip, and the chin is perfect. There is no doubt. It is Lincoln".

I then contacted Stephen Mancusi, a forensic artist for his evaluation. Although there were approximately 120 photographic portraits taken of Abraham Lincoln, all but three were taken after 1857, approximately 15 years after this miniature was painted. Comparing a painting to photographs lends itself to artistic interpretation.

A summary of the positive similarities by Stephen Mancusi as noted in the below report:

• The artist would not have been aware of the classic Abraham Lincoln "look" at that time.
• The individual proportions of the mouth, chin and jaw are very similar. The nose width has a consistency between the images. When comparisons are made, it is revealed that the proportions line up almost perfectly.
• The overall shape of the heads is similar.
• The square jaw, prominent cheek bones and cleft chin are clearly similarities.
• All of the images possess a heavy upper eyelid. Although it is not absolutely clear, there appears to be a slight askew or laziness of the left eye on all the images. This could indicate a strong similarity.
• The shortened slightly upturned left eyebrow is also a good similar feature.
• The nose shape is similar although not exact.
• The strongest similar feature is the shape of the mouth and the structure around it. The lip shape, the philtrum and the muzzle area are almost identical in the images.

Stephen concludes his evaluation with the following:

I believe that it would be impossible to make a definitive conclusion. The miniature is a painting and, therefore, has some artist's interpretations and distortions. I have explained the basis of my findings in the hope that it will give you new directions to explore and consider.

In late 2007, headlines across the globe drew attention to Lincoln’s distinct and asymmetrical face. Following excerpts from an Associated Press article dated August 13, 2007.

CHICAGO - Artists, sculptors and photographers knew Abraham Lincoln’s face had a good side. Now it’s confirmed by science.

Laser scans of two life masks, made from plaster casts of Lincoln’s face, reveal the 16th president’s unusual degree of facial asymmetry, according to a new study.

The left side of Lincoln’s face was much smaller than the right, an aberration called cranial facial microsomia.

Lincoln’s contemporaries noted his left eye at times drifted upward independently of his right eye, a condition now termed strabismus. Lincoln’s smaller left eye socket may have displaced a muscle controlling vertical movement, said Dr. Ronald Fishman, who led the study published in the August issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology. Most people’s faces are asymmetrical, Fishman said, but Lincoln’s case was extreme, with the bony ridge over his left eye rounder and thinner than the right side, and set backward.

When Lincoln was a boy, he was kicked in the head by a horse. Laser scans can’t settle whether the kick or a developmental defect — or neither — contributed to Lincoln’s lopsided face, Fishman said.

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Did you ever really need to know that much about Lincoln's face?

Yes... yes you did.