George P.A. Healy: A Breakthrough

"Mrs. Richard T. Crane" by George Healy

"I had so far painted only men. My ambition now was to paint a woman's portrait, a beautiful woman's portrait! I could think, dream of nothing else. I was then painting Lieutenant Van Brunt, and to him I opened my heart. He said: 'Go and call on Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis. Tell her you want to paint her portrait and that I sent you.' 

Mrs. Otis was then the queen of fashion in Boston society. Her house was very popular, her entertainments celebrated, her sayings quoted, her beauty and elegance acknowledged by some, discussed by others. To be received by Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis was a sign that one belong to 'society,' to the 'right set,' and in Boston, then as now, it was necessary to belong to the 'right set.' I knew all this somewhat vaguely, as a mere boy, who by no means belonged to the famous 'right set.' I was distressingly timid. This shyness was terribly real, and at times caused me almost physical suffering.

I can still see myself going up the steps of Mrs. Otis' house. I held the knocker in my hand, then let it go, and ran for my life! But another time I screwed up my courage and saw the door open before me. I managed to ask the servant for Mrs. Otis. I bade him say that 'a gentleman wished to see her on business.' Then, in mortal terror, I awaited her entrance. I dared not look at her, but with a sort of boldness which is sometimes the result of excessive timidity. I told her that I was an artist. That my ambition was to paint a beautiful woman, and that I begged her to sit to me. 

Perhaps no woman is offended at a youth's blunt homage. Mrs. Otis was not. She laughed out loud showing her very pretty teeth. Then she asked to whom she was to have the honor of sitting. I had quite forgotten to introduce myself, and to mention Lieutenant Van Brunt.  She called on me the very next day, and examined the portraits which I had already finished. She seemed well enough pleased. 

And so my first portrait of a woman was a very audacious one. I painted Mrs. Otis laughing - a thing which, had I had more experience, I should perhaps not have dared to do. But her laugh was charming, and she was fond of showing her perfect teeth and her dimples. From that time 'Little Healy,' as people called me, became known. Mrs. Otis proved a warm-hearted friend and a very powerful one, and I was able not only to pay my rent to my patient landlord and my other expenses, but to help toward the support of my family."

To be continued

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