George P. A. Healy: John Quincy Adams

"John Quincy Adams" by George Healy

"In September, 1845, I found myself in Boston, and there I obtained sittings from John Quincy Adams for the portrait ordered by King Louis Philippe. He was then seventy-eight years of age. He was a member of Congress, and was called the 'old man eloquent.' It seemed odd to talk with one who had been in France before the Revolution, whose father had spoken to him familiarly of Voltaire, of Buffon, and of the French court.

The first time he came to sit I said something about the annoyance we artists caused celebrated people. Webster was very frank on the subject. He compared us to horseflies on a hot day - brush them off on one side, they settle on the other. Adams smiled, but said that he was by no means of Webster's opinion, that he had enjoyed his sittings on more than one occasion. He had perhaps found that a man busy with his brush can be a good listener. I, for one, listened with great pleasure.

He spoke of different painters he had known. He had, as a boy, seen Reynolds, whom he greatly admired, but who would often 'not let well alone,' and spoiled his portraits with over care. Stuart he had sat to, though the portrait had to be finished by Sully after the great artist's death. He had had many opportunities of studying the old masters in the different galleries. He had seen the Louvre in Napoleon's time filled with the finest masterpieces, unscrupulously taken from conquered countries. 'But,' added he, 'there were too many. It was a surfeit of sweets. It was impossible to appreciate each picture seen thus crowded by other pictures.'

John Quincy Adams was an excellent classical scholar, and while speaking of his favorite authors would grow quite excited, with his eyes cast upward. On more than one occasion I saw him literally trembling with emotion. In those far-away days cold indifference was not yet the fashion. A man did not fear to show the enthusiasm he felt. He said that he could never, even then, read the account of the death of Socrates without tears springing to his eyes."

To be continued

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