MAX ROSENTHAL'S ETCHED PORTRAIT OF UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT JUSTICE LUCIUS QUINTUS CINCINNATUS LAMAR, SIGNED "MAX ROSENTHAL" OUTSIDE THE BORDER IN NEAT PENCIL SCRIPT.
[Philadelphia: c. 1890]. Etching, 4-3/8" x 6-1/4." Mounted on card stock. Signed by Rosenthal in pencil. Near Fine. With facsimile signature, "L. Q. C. Lamar."
Born to a Jewish family in Poland in 1833, Rosenthal at the age of twelve "was sent to Paris to study art and escape conscription in the Imperial Russian Army, which recognized the Jewish rule of regarding a boy as of age at thirteen." Immigrating to Philadelphia at the age of 17, he became a successful lithographer and mezzotint engraver, winning a "conspicuous place among American engravers" [DAB]. See, also, the Library Company of Philadelphia's online article on Rosenthal, in "Philadelphia on Stone."
Grover Cleveland, the first Democrat elected President after the Civil War, put Lamar on the Supreme Court in 1885. Lamar, a veteran of a Mississippi regiment during the Civil War, wrote the Mississippi ordinance of secession. He developed a post-War reputation as a sectional healer by delivering a moving eulogy after Senator Charles Sumner died. John Kennedy included Lamar for this reason in his Profiles in Courage. He was the first person [of only two] to serve in the U.S. House, the U. S. Senate, a Cabinet member, and as a Supreme Court Justice. But Lamar's legacy is badly tainted today by his active role in the reestablishment of White supremacy in the post-Reconstruction South. Item #41789
Price: $350.00