Brady, Mathew B. "President Taylor and His Cabinet"

"President Taylor and His Cabinet."

Photographs. New York: Mathew B. Brady, 1849. Printed by lithography. Sheet 15 1/4 x 23 3/4 laid onto a sheet 20 1/2 x 27 (overall dimensions. Five repaired tears on the heavier mounting sheet. Lithograph drawn on stone by D'Avignon & Hoffman. Printed by Nagel & Weingarten, New York. Some slight staining, but overall an interesting, effective impression. 

At Mathew Brady's photography studios in New York and Washington separate portrait photographs were taken and then redrawn as a grouping to show President Zachary Taylor's cabinet left to right Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), William Morris Meredith (1799-1873), William Ballard Preston (1805-1862, Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), George Walker Crawford (1798-1872), Jacob Collamer (1791-1865), Thomas Ewing (1789-1871), and John Middleton Clayton (1796-1856). Francis D'Avignon (ca. 1814-?) and Abram Hoffman (fl. 1849-1860) used the photographs to draw the portraits on stone.

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) was affectionately called, "Old Rough and Ready," due to his active military career in the War of 1812, many Indian War campaigns, and the Mexican War. This is one of the earliest group portraits of a presidential cabinet in the United States.