Background
Bersch was born in Zweibrücken, Germany and he studied fine arts in Munich.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Carl Bersch
Edit ProfileCareer
Bersch came to the United States in 1860 and lived in Memphis and Baltimore before moving to Washington District of Columbia. He worked in Matthew Brady"s photography studio. Bersch was sitting on a porch near the Ford Theatre on the evening that President Abraham Lincoln went to watch his last play. He was sketching a group of Union soldiers and musicians in a victory procession up Tenth Street.
Bersch noticed a commotion in the area of the theatre door.
As a group brought the president"s body towards William Petersen"s boardinghouse, Bersch sketched the "solemn and reverent cortege." Later, he expanded the sketch into an oil painting that he titled "Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands." lieutenant is the only known visual that recorded the end-of-war celebration that was overtaken by the news of Lincoln"s murder. After the Civil War, he lived in Baltimore until about 1900 and then returned to Washington District of Columbia. He visited Europe in 1907–1908 and remained in Baltimore, after this, for the rest of his life.
He died in Baltimore, Maryland in 1914.
