James A. Garfield

Portrait of President James A. Garfield (1831-1881), 20th President of the United States. President Garfield is represented as a balding and bearded, in a profile facing his left, set against a dark green background. Although artist James Reed Lambdin painted President Garfield before he was assassinated, he probably worked from a photograph rather than from life, because of the President’s noticeably rigid pose and his appearance as psychologically remote. The portrait’s inanimate quality may also be ascribed to the fact that this painting dates from very late in the artist’s career.