Lew Bloom

In early 1929, Bloom made news when he announced that he had acquired a previously unknown oil portrait of former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, the widow of slain president Abraham Lincoln. Bloom claimed shortly before President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, Mary Lincoln commissioned painter Francis Bicknell Carpenter (who had lived at the White House for six months during Lincoln's presidency and had previously painted First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln) to paint a portrait of her as gift to her husband. After the President's death, Bloom claimed that Mary Lincoln was unable to pay Carpenter for the painting and asked him to destroy it. According to Bloom, Carpenter kept the painting and eventually sold it to a wealthy Philadelphia shipbuilder named Jacob G. Neafie who was a great fan of President Lincoln's.^[14][15] After Neafie died, Bloom said that Neafie's daughter inherited the portrait who then gave it to Bloom's sister Susan as gift for taking care of her mother, Anna "Annie" Neafie, who died in 1860.^[14][16] Upon Susan's death in 1910, Bloom inherited her art collection which he said included the portrait of Mary Lincoln.^[12]

To validate his claim of the portrait's authenticity, Bloom attached a notarized affidavit to it and displayed the portrait at Milch Galleries in Manhattan. Shortly before his death in December 1929, he sold the portrait to president and Mary Lincoln's granddaughter Jessie Harlan Lincoln, the daughter of the Lincolns' eldest and only surviving son Robert Todd Lincoln.^[15] The exact sale price is unknown, but is believed to be between $2,000 to $3,000 (approximately $37,000 to $55,000 today).^[16] The portrait was the subject of considerable media attention and was written about in the February 12, 1929 edition of the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. It was later mentioned in various books about the Lincolns, including Carl Sandburg's 1932 biography Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow.^[14]

In 1976, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, the last undisputed Lincoln descendant, donated the portrait to the Illinois State Historical Library (now known as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum). At the time, the portrait was estimated to be worth $400,000 (approximately $7,325,000 today). In 1978, art conservators at the Art Institute of Chicago noted that the portrait had been "heavily retouched" and contained significant elements that were added after the original painting had been completed. After a partial restoration, it was discovered that the facial area of the subject had been altered. The woman in the portrait was noted to have coloring that was brighter than the original 1929 portrait and that the face of the woman was "different, plainer" than Mary Todd Lincoln's.^[14] The conservators also discovered that the subject was wearing a cross necklace which Mary Lincoln would not have worn as she was not a Roman Catholic. As the painting had been owned by the Lincoln family, the authenticity of the painting was not immediately questioned. The conservators that worked on the initial restoration reasoned that the added paint was likely the result of "heavy handed" retouches by other conservators or by Francis Bicknell Carpenter who was known to "fiddle with" his finished paintings.^[17] The lack of resemblance to the woman in the portrait to the real Mary Lincoln was rationalized as "artistic idealization". For the next 32 years, the portrait hung at the Illinois Executive Mansion in Springfield, Illinois.^[14]

In April 2010, art conservator Barry Bauman was hired to clean the portrait as it had accumulated dirt and grime after years of being displayed. Bauman also hoped to restore the portrait to its previous 1929 appearance. During the restoration, Bauman soon discovered that a layer of varnish sat on top of the paint indicating that someone had altered the original. After removing the varnish, Bauman discovered that the woman Bloom claimed was Mary Todd Lincoln was an unknown woman who bore no resemblance to the former First Lady. It was noted that the woman's coloring was "...much fresher, a much warmer, a much redder toned, flesh toned..." than the original painting depicted.^[18] Bauman also discovered that a brooch bearing the face of Abraham Lincoln worn by the subject covered a floral brooch. Bauman also inspected the signature of Francis Bicknell Carpenter and the date, both of which were added on top of the varnish layer. After comparing the signature to Carpenter's other paintings, the signature was deemed a forgery.^[15]

After the portrait was completely restored, Bauman determined that while it had been painted in the 1860s (likely around 1864), the woman in the portrait was not Mary Todd Lincoln and the painting was not the work of Francis Bicknell Carpenter. The real subject of the portrait and the artist remain unknown.^[17] Bauman also determined that Bloom, who also painted his own works, had likely altered the original portrait himself. Bauman also believed Bloom painted over the original portrait, forged Carpenter's name and created the fake affidavit.^[14] Bloom's claim that the portrait was given to his sister Susan by Jacob G. Neafie's daughter in appreciation of her care for the ailing Anna Neafie was proven to be false. Susan Bloom was born in 1855 and was only five years old when Anna Neafie died in 1860. James M. Cornelius, the curator of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, believes that Bloom was able to pull off the hoax because all the participants in his story were unable to refute his story as they were dead. Cornelius also believes that Bloom sought out the Lincolns not only make money from the sale of the portrait but to legitimatize its authenticity. Bloom was likely aware that the surviving Lincolns were eager to portray Mary and her son Robert Todd Lincoln in a positive and sympathetic light after the family had received a great deal of negative publicity after Robert had his mother forcibly institutionalized in 1875.^[14]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lew Bloom.

• Lew Bloom at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lew Bloom at Find a Grave
• Bauman, Barry. (Written 2011. Published February 10, 2012) Case Study: The Demise of Mary Lincoln: An Artistic Conspiracy Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Collection file LR 938. Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine