Alban Jasper Conant (September 24, 1821 – February 3, 1915) was a painter best known for painting the first portrait of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

Personal life

Conant was born on September 23, 1821, in

Chelsea, Vermont Chelsea is a town in and the shire town (county seat) of Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,233 at the 2020 census. Geography Chelsea is located in a river valley in central Vermont. The First Branch of the White R ...

, to Caleb and Sally () Conant. His father was a sign and house painter. He graduated from Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary in 1844 and later took a degree from Madison University in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He married Sarah Mahala Howes in New York in 1845. The couple moved to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

in 1857 where Conant helped found an art gallery. The Western Academy of Art was opened in St. Louis in 1860 as a fine art gallery. After bearing several children, Sarah died in 1867. Conant married a second time to Brianna C. Bryan in 1869. He had one additional child with his second wife before she died in 1875.Wilson, J. G., & Fiske, J. (1886). ''Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography'', 1600-1899 (Vol. 1). New York: D. Appleton and Company. Page 703."Alban Jasper Conant (1821-1915)
''Fine Art Investigations'', November 3, 2019."Alban J. Conant, Artist, Dies at 93." ''The New York Times'', February 1915.

Career

In addition to painting Abraham Lincoln, he also created portraits of some of Lincoln's cabinet officers; Attorney General

Edward Bates Edward Bates (September 4, 1793 – March 25, 1869) was an American lawyer, politician and judge. He represented Missouri in the US House of Representatives and served as the U.S. Attorney General under President Abraham Lincoln. A member ...

and Secretary of War

Edwin Stanton Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War, U.S. secretary of war under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's manag ...

. Notable paintings of his include ''When the Attack was Begun'' and ''Burial of DeSoto''. Well-known portraits of his include portraits of

Henry Ward Beecher Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the Abolitionism, abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery ...

James McCosh James McCosh (April 1, 1811 – November 16, 1894) was a philosopher of the Scottish School of Common Sense. He was president of Princeton University 1868–88. Biography McCosh was born into a Covenanter, Covenanting family in Ay ...

, John Gilbert, General

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...

and

Major Robert Anderson Robert Anderson (June 14, 1805 – October 26, 1871) was a United States Army officer during the American Civil War. He was the Union commander in the first battle of the American Civil War at Fort Sumter in April 1861 when the Confederates bomb ...

Fort Sumter Fort Sumter is a historical Coastal defense and fortification#Sea forts, sea fort located near Charleston, South Carolina. Constructed on an artificial island at the entrance of Charleston Harbor in 1829, the fort was built in response to the W ...

. His portraits are owned and displayed by a number of American institutions. They can be found at the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

, the

Missouri Historical Society The Missouri Historical Society was founded in St. Louis on August 11, 1866. Founding members created the historical society "for the purpose of saving from oblivion the early history of the city and state". Organization The Missouri Historica ...

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

Dickinson College Dickinson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1773 as Carlisle Grammar School, Dickinson was chartered on September 9, 1783, ...

, the State Supreme Court of New York, the

New-York Historical Society The New York Historical (known as the New-York Historical Society from 1804 to 2024) is an American history museum and library on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. It ...

, and the

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum documents the life of the 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, and the course of the American Civil War. Combining traditional scholarship with 21st-century showmanship techniques, the museum ...

. Conant also wrote or co-wrote several books. He wrote ''Foot-prints of vanished races in the Mississippi valley'' in 1879 and ''My acquaintance with Abraham Lincoln'' in 1893. Conant wrote ''A portrait painter's reminiscences of Lincoln'' in 1909 and eleven chapters of ''The Commonwealth of Missouri: A Centennial Record'' in 1877. The chapters were about the archaeology of Missouri. He served as a curator at

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

, for eight years. He founded the School of Mines and Metallurgy and then supervised the school for three years. He lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

from about 1885 until his death in 1915."Alban Jasper Conant." ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'', February 4, 1915, p. 3.

Works

Switzler's Illustrated History of Missouri, 1541-1877
(1877)
A Commonwealth of Missouri; A Centennial Record
(1877)
Foot-prints of vanished races in the Mississippi valley : being an account of some of the monuments and relics of prehistoric races scattered over its surface, with suggestions as to their origin and uses
(1879)
A Portrait Painter's Reminiscences of Lincoln
(1893)
Portrait of William Carr Lane

The First Gun at Fort Sumter

References

External links

Missouri Remembers: Artists in Missouri through 1951
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conant, Alban Jasper 1821 births 1915 deaths Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery Painters from Vermont 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters American portrait painters American male painters People from Chelsea, Vermont University of Missouri curators Painters from St. Louis 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists