In Manchester, England there stands a statue of Abraham Lincoln. The statue was supposed to be given to London, but no one there wanted it. Robert Lincoln was aghast. “No, no, no,” he mightily exclaimed. “No way. It looks like Lincoln has a belly ache.” So it was sent to Manchester and a copy of the more acceptable statue of Lincoln standing in front of a chair found its way to London instead.
Today I saw the original “belly ache” statue in Cincinnati, Ohio.
To be honest, it does look like Lincoln is feeling some distress (and not just because I was dodging rain drops to take the photo). The sculptor, George Grey Barnard, intended a frontier Lincoln, dressed his usual frumpy, with his arms clasped in front of him. At 11 feet tall, plus a pedestal, the statue is rather impressive.
But apparently not dignified enough for the Brits.
So a copy of the Barnard statue is in Manchester (with another in Louisville, KY) and a copy of the more famous statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens sits in Parliament Square, London.
I’ve seen several other statues on this trip…and will see more before I’m done. I’ll be posting more about them as I sort through thousands of photos, most of them better than this phone shot.
Check back soon.
David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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