George P. A. Healy: Portraits of French Statesmen

 

"Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult"
by George Healy

"I happened to be in London in the spring of 1838 and assisted at the festivities of Queen Victoria's coronation on the 25th of April. It was a very grand sight, and all the different countries sent representatives. Among these, Marshal Soult, who represented his royal master, Louis Philippe, excited most interest and admiration. He was a very rich man, and his government spared nothing to add to the luxury which he was fond of displaying.

Our minister, Mr. Stevenson, was so struck by his fine presence and grand air that he bade me paint his portrait, if I could get him to sit. This was easier said than done, but in the end I painted a large portrait of the Marshal in his superb gold-embroidered uniform, holding his white plumed hat under his arm. The picture is now in the Corcoran Gallery in Washington.

I was also invited to visit Soult's famous gallery of pictures, collected - in reality, stolen - in Spain. It contained a number of paintings by Murillo, Cano and Ribeira. But the picture which struck me most was the large Murillo, called the 'Immaculate Conception,' and which has become familiar to every visitor of the Louvre, since it has been hung in the Salon Carre. But in those days only those to whom the Marshal opened his door were allowed to see this and his other pictures.  After Soult's death his gallery was sold, and brought nearly a million and a half francs. The 'Immaculate Conception' along cost the Louvre 586,000 francs - an unheard of price in those days.

"M. Guizot" by George Healy

It would have been difficult to find a greater contrast than that which existed between Soult and another of my sitters of that far-off time, Guizot, then one of the most prominent of French statesmen. No one had greater influence. Cold in manner, exquisitely polite, he was inflexible when he thought himself to be in the right. His early childhood had been overshadowed by the terror of the Revolution. His father, though a Liberal, had perished on the guillotine. He was, by his nature and his principles, eminently fitted to be a member of Louis Philippe's government.

As a sitter, Guizot was not only courteous, but perfectly charming. His conversation was varied and most interesting, and he usually spoke English. Before beginning the large portrait I made a careful drawing on a canvas, just rubbed in here and there with a little color. This was considered so successful that I left it in its unfinished state, and have kept it ever since. Guizot was then a man of about fifty-five, in the full strength and vigor of his long life. He died in 1874, at the age of eighty-six. His head was remarkably fine and delicate, the head of a scholar and of a perfect gentleman."

To be continued

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