Jun 27, 2024 - Sale 2675

Sale 2675 - Lot 71

Price Realized: $ 4,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(CANADA.) Mathew Brady, photographer. Mammoth signed portrait of Prime Minister John A. MacDonald. Albumen photograph, 16½ x 13½ inches, on original 26¾ x 21¾-inch plain mount, signed and dated by MacDonald and additionally signed by the photographer; minimal wear and light soiling to the mount, tipped to mat board on top edge. Washington, DC, 8 May 1871
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Additional Details

Sir John A. MacDonald (1815-1891) was one of the founding fathers of modern Canada, and in 1867 was chosen as its first prime minister. While still serving in that role in 1871, he was chosen as one of Great Britain's six commissioners to help negotiate a treaty with the United States. The Treaty of Washington was signed on 8 May 1871, settling outstanding claims from the Civil War and addressing illegal fishing in Canadian waters, as well as establishing permanent peaceful relations between the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

On 7 March 1871, MacDonald sat for this portrait with America's most renowned photographer Mathew Brady, per the next day's New York Herald. Two months later, on the same day as the treaty was ratified, MacDonald then signed it boldly on the mount. The photograph was additionally signed on the mount by Brady along with his address, in a miniscule hand just under the photograph.

Provenance: property of Steve Forbes.