The photographs of Mathew Brady became icons of American identity. One of his portraits of Abraham Lincoln has entered the collective memory of the world. Today, it is one of the best known and most widespread images of all. It adorns the five-dollar note and is a symbol of American capitalism. Of the 19 presidents of the USA between 1825 and 1896, Brady portrayed 18, with only the 9th president, William Henry Harrison, not included. He died in office, three days before the official photo session with the well-known portraitist. His name, however, is linked to one of the most traumatic events in American history, the American Civil War of 1861-1865.
Brady was born in New York as the son of Irish immigrants and began an apprenticeship with the portrait painter William Page at the age of 16. Here he developed his passion for the human physiognomy, which only found its artistic expression after another encounter with Samuel F. B. Morse. With Morse, Brady was confronted with the methods of daguerreotype, the first technical imaging process. He was fascinated by the technical imaging of human beings and over the next decades he actively participated in the development of photography and also changed imaging technologies several times. In addition to commissioned works in his photo studio opened in New York, Brady worked on a "Gallery of Illustrious Americans", which established his reputation and earned him a number of international awards as a photographer.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the photographer's subject changed. In the beginning he tried to earn money with the Civil War by an advertising campaign, in which he offered families to photograph their sons before they went to war. Under the motto "You can tell, how soon it may be too late", he worked with the families' fear of loss. But then he found his artistic calling and established himself as a war photographer who documented the battles and human sacrifices of war on both sides. He received permission from Abraham Lincoln to accompany the Northern troops, but with the restriction that he had to pay for the financing himself. With his camera and portable darkroom, Brady moved into the direct battlefield and gave a face to the horror of the first technological war in human history. The project grew and by the end of the war in 1865 Brady employed a total of 17 assistants who had produced over 10,000 photographic plates. Brady invested over $100,000 in the campaign in the hope that the government would subsequently pay for the costs incurred. But after the end of the war, the cruelty of the battlefields became taboo and Brady was granted only $25,000 by the U.S. government in 1875. Brady died completely impoverished and blinded in New York, but his photographs of the American Civil War live on.
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_photograph_by_Brady_in_-_(MeisterDrucke-1062690).jpg "Portrait of American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849) photograph by Brady in the 19th century by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, at His Headquarters, Illustration from")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-55087).jpg "Edgar Allan Poe by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Thaddeus Hyatt: American Abolitionist, New York, c.1857 by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-157674).jpg "Portrait of Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln and Major J. A. McClernand by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Edward VII as Prince of Wales, New York, 1860, 1939 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Union Brig. Gen. Samuel Wylie Crawford and staff, summer 1862 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Daniel Webster, from")
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.jpg "Provost Marshall")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-242725).jpg "Jenny Lind, The Swedish Nightingale (1850) by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Transportation of Supplies, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Union Brig. Gen. George W. Cullum by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "The Post Office, Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "The First Ironclad Gunboat built in America, 1861 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Discussing the Probabilities of an Advance by Mathew B. Brady")
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_(litho)_-_(MeisterDrucke-37703).jpg "Portrait of John Alexander Logan by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Confederacy, 1859-60 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Edgar Allan Poe by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Millard Fillmore, from")
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.jpg "Forrest Hall Prison, Washington, D.C. by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General Hospital, City Point by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General George G. Meade in Camp by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-584602).jpg "General Robert E Lee and Staff, 1865 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General A. E. Burnside in Camp by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-237446).jpg "Portrait of General Ulysses Grant, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "John Henry and Reuben at Leisure by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Officers of Grant")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-242492).jpg "Portrait of General George B. McClellan by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Bridge built by troops on the Orange and Alexandria Rail Road, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-151736).jpg "Officers of the 4th New York Volunteers, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-315397).jpg "Managers of the House of Representatives of the Impeachment, 1868 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Grapevine Bridge over the Chickahominy River by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-98849).jpg "Portrait of Edwin M. Stanton (1814-69) by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Gunboat of Alexandria by Mathew B. Brady")
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_politician_and_leader_of_the_Free_State_Party_of_Ka_-_(MeisterDrucke-916504).jpg "James Henry Lane (1814-1866), politician and leader of the Free State Party of Kansas, full-length portrait, with gun (sepia photo) by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Major-General Philip Henry Sheridan, 1864 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General Zachary Taylor, from")
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.jpg "Washington in the 1860")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-51153).jpg "Portrait of Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-86) by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Edgar Allan Poe by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Major Robert Anderson, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Deck of Gunboat and Crew, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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 c1864 (sepia photo) - (MeisterDrucke-207248).jpg "Union Martyrs, Photographs of Union Generals Killed During the War by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Generals Grant, Badeau, Rawlins, Comstock and Porter, and Colonels Duff, F. D. Dent, Robinett and Parker by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-241262).jpg "Army square hospital for Union Army veterans by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Camp Winfield Scott, near Yorktown, 3rd May 1862 by Mathew B. Brady")
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_and_Officers_of_the_69th_New_York_Volunteers_1861-65_-_(MeisterDrucke-323457).jpg "General Corcoran and Officers of the 69th New York Volunteers, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "White House Landing on the Pamunkey, 1862 by Mathew B. Brady")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-166743).jpg "General Winfield Scott Hancock by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-94583).jpg "Portrait of Gideon Welles (1802-78) by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Officers of the 164th and 170th New York Volunteers, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Walt Whitman, American Poet, c1880s by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Robert E. Lee by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General Grant")
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.jpg "General Benjamin F. Butler, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Samuel Morse and his Recorder, 1857 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Army Hospital near Washington, D.C., 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Building Winter Quarters at City Point, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "The Last Interview between President Lincoln and General McClellan at Antietam by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "The")
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.jpg "Landing Supplies on the James River, Virginia, 1865 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Union Wounded at Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1863 by Mathew B. Brady")
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 Unionist during Civil War subj - (MeisterDrucke-293218).jpg "Barbara Frietchie, Unionist During Civil War by Mathew B. Brady")
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_at_the_battle_of_Chickamauga_20th_Septembe_-_(MeisterDrucke-264124).jpg "General George Henry Thomas at the battle of Chickamauga, 20th September 1863 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General David Hunter (1861-65) by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Locomotive on the United States Military Railroad, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Ruins at City Point - After the Explosion by Mathew B. Brady")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-322481).jpg "Central Signal Station, Washington, D.C., 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Composer William Vincent Wallace, 1855 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Abraham Lincoln, 1861 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Portrait photograph of William Tecumseh Sherman by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-98978).jpg "Portrait of Judson Kilpatrick by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "26th New York Volunteers, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "James B. and Fannie Ricketts by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General Robert E. Lee Sitting in His House in Richmond, 1865 by Mathew B. Brady")
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_(bw_photo)_-_(MeisterDrucke-36056).jpg "Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General Grant by Tree, City Point, 1864 by Mathew B. Brady")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-42858).jpg "Portrait of Philip Henry Sheridan by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Portrait of William Makepeace Thackeray by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Group of Unknown Federal Officers by Mathew B. Brady")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-648720).jpg "Major-General Joseph Hooker, c.1863 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Hospital No.15, Beaufort, South Carolina, 1864 by Mathew B. Brady")
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_from_The_History_of_the_United_States_Vol_II_by_Charl_-_(MeisterDrucke-50076).jpg "Winfield Scott (1786-1866) from")
_from_The_History_of_the_United_States_Vol_II_by_Charl_-_(MeisterDrucke-50076).jpg)
.jpg "Brady")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-230972).jpg "General James H. Wilson and Friends, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Major General W.T. Sherman and horse by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-269073).jpg "Walt Whitman by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Portrait of Abraham Lincoln by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Album of 200 Cartes de Visite, Most by Brady by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Pontoon Boat on Wheels by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General Ulysses Simpson Grant, engraved from a photograph, illustration from")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-107009).jpg "Portrait of Ulysses S. Grant by Mathew B. Brady")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-63401).jpg "Portrait of Nathaniel Prentiss Banks (1816-94) by Mathew B. Brady")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-313010).jpg "Inauguration of President Lincoln, 4th March 1861 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Company of Infantry near Harper")
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.jpg "Rutherford B. Hayes before his inauguration as President, 1877 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "General Heintzelman Entertaining Friends at the Convalescent Camp, Alexandria, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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.jpg "Falling Water Bridge, Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, 1861-65 by Mathew B. Brady")
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