George P. A. Healy: English Patrons

"Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine" by Correggio

One day - it was in 1834 - I was working in the Louvre very earnestly from that most adorable of pictures, Correggio's 'Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine,' when I suddenly felt that I was no longer alone before my easel. Two English visitors, a husband and wife, pleasant looking people, questioned me with interest, then moved off with a few kindly words of praise. I never expected to see them again.

A little later I started for Italy - a pilgrimage which tempts every young painter - and naturally I travelled as economically as possible. Generally my journeys were accomplished on foot, but Italy is a long way off, and I crossed Mont Cenis in the stagecoach. At Alexandria we stopped to rest, and the first people I saw at the inn were the English travellers. To my great surprise and pleasure they recognized me and spoke. And thus Sir Arthur Brooke Faulkner and his charming wife became the kindest friends and patrons of the unknown American painter.

They travelled in their own carriage, and most graciously offered me a place in it for the rest of the journey. I need not say how eagerly I accepted. In these days of steam we rush through the countries we visit; we do not really see them. Travelling in a comfortable, venerable looking coach, ingeniously packed with all sorts of portable luxuries, roomy and easy, stopping where and when one chooses, is a delight of which our young people can scarcely form an idea. My enthusiasm for the lovely country in which we found ourselves was enhanced by the delights of a new and warm friendship. By the time we reached Naples it was an understood thing that I should before long go to London and meet my kind English friends.

Events seemed about to shape my career into that of an English artist. Sir Arthur Faulkner, whose position in the London world was a high one, obtained sittings for me from the Duke of Sussex, uncle to the present Queen. This was a splendid opening for a young painter, and I did my very best. The portrait proved successful, and brought me various commissions and some notice."

To be continued

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