While most people considered photography to be a science, and photographers merely skilled tradesmen, Mathew Brady used his camera to forge strong ties to the world of art. In the mid-1840s, Brady daguerreotyped many artists, including landscape painter Thomas Cole and portraitist Charles Loring Elliott (who returned the favor by painting Brady in 1857). In 1850, Brady commissioned Francis D'Avignon to make lithographs from twelve of his daguerreotypes, which he published as the Gallery of Illustrious Americans. And Brady provided numerous portraits for engraving, as Harper's Weekly knew in 1860 when it translated his photograph of the new Republican presidential candidate, Abraham Lincoln, into a full-page woodcut for its cover. Brady worked closely with painters G.P.A. Healy and Francis Bicknell Carpenter, who used his photographs to add precision and accuracy to their portraits of national leaders. Around 1858, Brady collaborated with Henry F. Darby, who made a portrait of Henry Clay from Brady's daguerreotype--the best source, for Clay had died in 1852. One of Brady's most substantial contributions came in 1865, when he worked with publisher John Bachelder and painter Alonzo Chappel to create a commemorative tableau, "The Last Hours of Lincoln." Bachelder asked every person present on the night of Lincoln's death to visit Brady's studio, and Chappel assembled his realistic group portrait from the photographs Brady made.
1. Abraham Lincoln /Mathew Brady Studio
2. Winfield Scott /Mathew Brady Studio
3. David Glasgow Farragut /Mathew Brady Studio