Despite the ever increasing demands on his time during this critical election year, Lincoln responded unhesitatingly and on the shortest notice to photographers, painters, and sculptors seeking to capture his image. Leonard Wells Volk made the plaster cast for the life mask of Lincoln at his Chicago studio in March 1860. Volk made the cast of Lincoln’s hand in Springfield a day or two after the tall Illinoisan was named the Republican Party candidate for president. After Lincoln shook hands with hometown well-wishers, his right hand became swollen. When Volk suggested the nominee hold something, Lincoln broke off a broomstick, a portion of which is visible in the casting.