George P. A. Healy: An Artistic Tour de France

"Vinnie Ream" by George Healy

"My life at this time was a life of extreme sobriety and very hard work. I was full of respect for the dollars I had brought with me, and my noonday meal often consisted of a small loaf with fruit, or cheese when there was no fruit. But I had good health, high spirits, and immense pleasure in the progress I felt I was making day by day. 

I undertook a walking tour with two young French artists through France and Switzerland. This is one of my most delightful remembrances, though it was rough sort of travelling. We often walked twenty or thirty miles in one day, without being sure of finding food on the way. In out-of-the-way places we were glad at night to be allowed to throw ourselves down in some peasant's barn, with straw by way of beds, and to find a bowl of milk and some black bread for our breakfast. But we were free to go where we chose, to stop as long as we liked in picturesque nooks and sketch to our heart's content. We were young and strong, and very merry.

On one occasion a gentleman stopped to look at our work, and began to talk with us in the friendly way which is now much less the fashion in France than it used to be. English notions have invaded even the French provinces, and strangers, until they are 'presented' to each other, hesitate to compromise their dignity by speaking. When I was a young fellow, this was by no means the case, and this conversation with an utter stranger seemed to us not only pleasant but perfectly natural.

To the stranger it was evidently agreeable, for he said to us heartily: 'I like artists. I have rarely the occasion of seeing any in this out-of-the-way place. Will you give me the pleasure of your company this evening at dinner?' A real dinner, in a real dining room, with a host who could talk of pictures and who appreciated artists! Such a piece of good luck was not to be despised, and the invitation was enthusiastically accepted. The stranger proved to be a rich man who lived in a chateau, and had an excellent cook as well as an estimable cellar. I doubt whether he ever gave a better dinner or a gayer one!"

To be continued

(Excerpts of "Reminiscences of a Portrait Painter" by G. P. A. Healy.)