(Theodore Roosevelt)

Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt in his Rough Rider uniform painted by Fedor Encke in 1902. Mrs. Bellamy Storer encouraged TR to sit for this portrait after his return from the Spanish American War. In a letter to Mrs. Storer in December in 1902, Roosevelt said "Just at this time I could have received no other present which would have appealed to me so much as the picture by Encke, and I thank you for it with all my heart. I took an immense fancy to the picture. I cannot say that I think it looks particularly like me, but most emphatically it does look the way I should like to have my children and possible grandchildren think that I looked! I have always wanted to have a picture taken in uniform, although I have felt shamefaced about sitting for such a picture in view of my very brief military career. So I do wish you to feel that you have given me the very thing of all others I wanted" (Theodore Roosevelt Papers, Library of Congress).