If one surveys the available portraits seen on the internet of Abraham Lincoln, a few will show an eye turn.
This type of strabismus is called a left intermittent hypertropia. There is a deviation of the left eye upward.
Most images show Lincoln’s eyes pointing straight which suggest the problem was not constant.
The image above is probably amongst the most well known of Lincoln portraits and also one which shows the problem. His left eye is deviating upward slightly revealing more of the white part of his eye (the sclera) than in his right eye which is looking into the camera.
Another image illustrates the problem – perhaps more so.
Most other portraits of Lincoln show a head tilt to the right which could be a compensation for the relative weakness of an extraocular muscle producing the deviation.
Finally, what if one applied colorizing technology to Lincoln’s portrait? You may come up with this result. Coloring of an image taken by Alexander Gardner on February 5, 1865 and colorized by James Nance for the Abraham Lincoln Art Gallery.
His head tilts to his right slightly. What impact does this image bring to you by adding color?
Rick
// Jul 23, 2010 at 1:00 pm
The colorized photo makes the photos look even more realistic, showing that he indeed was a real person who once walked this earth. The colors used are very natural looking.
J
// Jul 27, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Rick,
your comment baffles & intrigues me…
I
// Aug 31, 2010 at 10:14 am
I’m not sure why he’d want to tilt his head to the right to make the left hypertropia worse. Seems like when he leans his head on his left hand in the other picture above, he’d be more comfortable. HaHa…That crazy Abe!
Robot Eyes
// Sep 27, 2010 at 12:56 pm
The reason his left eye seems to look up is simply this… his face goes left, and his head tilts right.
I believe his eyes would be more impacted by the position of his head (they’re attached to the brain) than of his face position and thus his eyes tilt with his head.
Look at the ears too. tilted
Dr Doug Cook
// Sep 30, 2010 at 1:58 pm
I’m not sure if your first sentence is fully comprehended. Other’s confirm Lincoln’s hypertropia.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9083959
I
// Jan 31, 2011 at 12:50 pm
Interesting article. Makes more sense for the right head tilt if he had LSO paresis. Very cool stuff! I wonder how many other historical world figures can be seen with subtle disorders like this?