Updated March 3: This has been sold.
Large photograph Teddy Roosevelt inscribed and signed in pen on December 13, 1915, with a certificate of authenticity. Conservation framing in a hand made oak frame.
For anyone who is an admirer of Roosevelt, this is rare prize they will treasure and hand down from generation to generation.
The photograph, at nearly 12” x 18”, is extraordinarily large. I’ve only seen one other that was even close to this in size, and none this large with the inscription and signature on the photograph.
And the inscription is wonderful:
"With all good wishes
from Theodore Roosevelt
December 13, 1915”
Since it doesn’t reference a particular person, who's to say he didn't anticipate you eventually owning it? Surely fun to imagine.
To put this photograph from December 1915 in context, the year before it was taken, he almost died during the exploration of the Amazon. Six months after it was taken, he declined the Progressive presidential nomination. And a little over three years after he signed this photograph he passed away in his sleep.
Includes a certificate of authenticity (pictured), which describes the photograph and inscription and references the frame it was in when I acquired it.
That original frame certainly didn't do this majestic photograph justice, so I made a frame out of oak. It will be matted in a window mat and framed using conservation materials, including museum-grade UV-protecting, non-glare acrylic.
The photograph is from a 1915 Silver Gelatin print by Pirie MacDonald, who was famous for photographing famous men. Years after this photograph was taken he said that Roosevelt was his most difficult subject. From that same 1927 United Press article, “The photographer snapped Roosevelt after stirring him to anger over poses, and gave the world the Roosevelt ‘fighting face.’”
After the photographer's death in 1942, all photographic negatives of his works were destroyed, as he had directed.
The photograph is 17 11/16 x 11 15/16”, according to the National Portrait Gallery, which has this same photograph in their collection. The outside dimensions of the frame are 21.25” x 25.25”.
A real gem.
— Lee Wright | Founder
Shipping: $35. Will be shipped via UPS with a signature required.