George P. A. Healy: "Webster Replying to Hayne"

"Daniel Webster" by George Healy

"While executing the orders of my royal patron, Louis Philippe, my work brought me in contact with the most celebrated of our public men. It was then that I first conceived the idea of grouping them together in a large historical picture. I chose as my subject 'Webster Replying to Hayne.' The great orator was a magnificent looking man, with his deep-set eyes, his superb brow and his fine massive presence. 

Webster was the very man for the central figure of a large picture. His friends and enemies, in various attitudes of attention, of admiration, or of indignation, set him off very well. This was an immense undertaking, which required seven years to accomplish. I painted the picture in Paris, but all the studies, about one hundred and fifty portraits, I made from life. When at last the picture was finished it was exhibited in America, and finally placed in Faneuil Hall, where it is still to be seen.

It was while I was thus at work in the United States that I heard of Louis Philippe's fall; the King of France was an exile in England. Not only was this a real grief to me, but, from a worldly point of view, it was a real calamity. To fulfil the King's orders I had left an excellent English connection. Many of the portraits of American statesmen intended for him were either not finished or remained on my hands. 

However, I continued my work, and when I had all the materials ready for my big picture, returned to Paris. I never regretted the time I devoted to it, but I hold it an honor to have painted so many of my illustrious country-people. And whatever criticisms may be addressed to 'Webster Replying to Hayne' as a picture, I can at least affirm that it was painted with absolute sincerity and regard for nature and truth. Each head on that vast canvas is a portrait."

To be continued

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