[Woodrow Wilson; bust, framed by U.S. eagle and flags]

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Few portraits of Woodrow Wilson from the later part of his presidency show him in quite this formal setting: a bust-length study framed by an American eagle and national flags, the kind of patriotic composition that suited wartime America. The record dates the print to about August 1917, when the United States had been fighting in the First World War for roughly four months after entering in April of that year. Photographers and print makers of the period often sold such images as tributes to the president and to the national cause. The record is thin on the photographer beyond a copyright credit to Geo. Barlow, so the exact circumstances of the sitting remain unconfirmed.

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