Alexander Gardner’s glass plate portrait of Abraham Lincoln was accidentally cracked and a line was rendered running through the print. This famous portrait defines its poignancy by presenting the man who took responsibility for preserving the Union as a divided photo.

When considering this photograph today, the image suggests a metaphor for Lincoln’s struggle, symbolizing the personal conflicts he faced in bringing together a nation torn by civil war.

Painting Lincoln on glass is a fragile process and the metaphor it might suggest reemphasizes the fragile nature of the principles Lincoln stood for,­however, this piece is not broken but it still must be handled delicately.