"Mrs. Freida Schiff Warburg" by George Healy |
Work was his life, his joy, his pride. He always rose with the dawn and generally long before. During the silent hours he wrote his letters; he 'cleared the decks for action,' as he himself said. Then he made use of every moment of daylight to paint, with or without a model. We have no record of the number of portraits painted during his first year in Chicago. But from his diary, which he only kept quite late in life, we learn that from November, 1880, to May, 1881, he produced forty-six portraits.
In the midst of his incessant labor he was often so overcome with fatigue as to be unable to sleep. From his youth upward he had suffered with his eyes, which yet must have been remarkably strong to have withstood the strain he put upon them.
And no man was ever more unhappy during enforced holidays. He liked to travel occasionally, but only where he could find picture galleries; and in these he would single out one or two masterpieces and remain in contemplation before them for hours.
I have elsewhere spoken of my father's kindness and generosity, or his happiness when he could help others. As he himself was truth and honesty in person, he could not conceive treachery or untruthfulness in others - or forgive the offenders. He was, from the first to the last, the most devoted and loving of husbands. The mutual tenderness of my parents, their absolute confidence in each other, was a subject of admiration - sometimes of wonder - to others. When the old painter at last let drop his brushes, he was content if our mother sat by his side, restless if she left him. And when he died she wandered about like a lost soul, longing for the end."
To be continued
(Excerpts from "Life of George P. A. Healy" by Marie Healy Bigot.)
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