Hon. John Griffin Carlisle, of Kentucky, Speaker of the House of Representatives

Object Details

Speaker John Carlisle appeared in Harper’s Weekly in June of 1888, presiding over the House. A few weeks before, the Washington Post had reported that the artist, well-known French printmaker Paul Rénouard, was seen about the Capitol, sketching its most prominent statesmen. The Post declared that the subjects “look very Frenchy, as it were . . . there is a wonderful amount of character and animation” in the drawings, unlike the “wooden portraits that generally appear in American newspapers.” While the Post touted the artist, Harper’s lavishly praised the Speaker. The accompanying article declared Carlisle “by far the ablest Democrat who has appeared in Congress for a generation,” as well as “kindly, helpful and long-suffering . . . accessible to all but lobbyists.”