Biography:

Joseph E. Baker was a lithographer and cartoonist, perhaps best known for his 1860 portrait of Abraham Lincoln drawn after his nomination as the Republican presidential candidate. Baker was born in about 1837 in Bangor, Maine, and moved to Boston by 1857, where he apprenticed at John H. Bufford’s lithographic firm. He became Bufford’s principal illustrator of sheet music. During the Civil War, Baker drew many political cartoons, primarily of the war itself. Baker worked for Bufford until Bufford’s death in 1870, while also working for other Boston firms. For Forbes and Company, Baker drew many playbills and advertisements. He eventually joined the firm of Armstrong & Company. He remained active until 1888 and died in Danvers, Massachusetts in 1914.