George P. A. Healy: First Successes

"Webster Replying to Hayne" by George Healy

"It was at the Salon of 1840 that I received for my portrait of Mrs. Cass a third meal - the first public recompense accorded to me. I say elsewhere how our Minister to France obtained for me sittings from the King, and how Louis Philippe later commissioned me to proceed to the United States to copy Stuart's Washington, and again to paint portraits of our great statesmen. After having been attracted to England, I now seemed fixed in France by the royal patronage, when in a moment the Revolution of 1848 changed all my worldly prospects. 

I had made frequent trips to America, but always returned to France, where I executed my two large pictures, 'Webster Replying to Hayne,' and 'Franklin before Louis XVI,' which latter picture won for me a gold medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1855. This was the highest reward which had in those days been granted to an American artist, and gave me the right to send works to the Salon without passing before the jury - in others words, I became 'Hors Concours.'

I shall pass rapidly over this period of my life. I was a hard worker, and to a certain extent a successful one. All my days were spent in my painting room, but I have always been fond of society, and not infrequently we spent the evenings with our friends. These were nearly all Americans. The American colony in those days was smaller than it is now, and less cut up into various 'sets.' The parties, the dinners and teas, cordially offered were most agreeable. It was not thought necessary to make a great display of wealth and fashion, to give jewels or costly trifles at the 'cotillon,' or to print the menu of a dinner on silver."

To be continued

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