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George P. A. Healy
1813–1894
BirthplaceBoston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Death placeChicago, Illinois, United States of America
BiographyGeorge Peter Alexander Healy was one of the most successful and prolific American portrait painters of the nineteenth century. A native of Boston, Healy was the son of an impoverished Irish immigrant sea captain. Virtually self-taught, he opened a studio in Boston at the age of seventeen, and by 1834 had found sufficient local patronage to fund further study abroad, as advised by painter Thomas Sully. His studies in Paris under academic painter Antoine-Jean Gros (1771–1835) were cut short by the latter’s suicide. Healy’s artistic development benefited further by his association with French painter Thomas Couture (1815–1879), who became a close friend. Supporting himself with minor commissions, Healy studied and copied old master works in museums in Paris and in Italy.
In 1836, Healy moved to London, began to study at the Royal Academy, and opened a studio. His personal charm and talent as a portraitist won him an impressive list of clients from among English high society. The many international visitors drawn to England for the celebration of Queen Victoria’s coronation in 1838 brought Healy still more commissions. General Lewis Cass, the American ambassador to France, introduced the artist to the French king Louis Philippe, who became Healy’s most important patron. In addition to portraits of the royal family, the king commissioned Healy to copy important works in the British royal collection and to paint portraits of American and European statesmen. In the midst of Healy’s transatlantic travels for such work, the 1848 revolution in France forced Louis Philippe into exile. Thanks to the artist’s extensive network of contacts in America and throughout Europe, however, he never lacked for work.
In 1851, Healy completed the most important of the few history paintings he made in his career, the ambitious, multi-figural Webster Replying to Hayne (Faneuil Hall, Boston), which he eventually sold to the City of Boston. In the 1850s, the artist increasingly focused on American commissions. In 1855, William Butler Ogden, who had served as the first mayor of Chicago, persuaded Healy to move to the rapidly growing city. In the decade that followed, he completed some five hundred portraits, many of them of leading citizens of Chicago. By far the most sophisticated and cosmopolitan artist yet to work there, Healy catalyzed the development of the city’s local cultural life. He also traveled widely to paint portraits of presidents and of military leaders during the Civil War era.
Partly to escape the stress of overwork, Healy returned to Europe in 1867. Based in Rome and later in Paris, he portrayed European nobility and royalty, as well as such notables as pianist and composer Franz Liszt, Pope Pius IX, and German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. In 1892, the artist returned to Chicago, where he died two years later. Although Healy enjoyed international celebrity in his lifetime, by the time of his death his likenesses, painted with a facile naturalism grounded in academic concerns for modeling and idealization, were outmoded. His works are widely distributed in American and European public collections, however, and in recent decades they have returned to display in American museums thanks to the revival of interest in nineteenth-century academic painting.
In 1836, Healy moved to London, began to study at the Royal Academy, and opened a studio. His personal charm and talent as a portraitist won him an impressive list of clients from among English high society. The many international visitors drawn to England for the celebration of Queen Victoria’s coronation in 1838 brought Healy still more commissions. General Lewis Cass, the American ambassador to France, introduced the artist to the French king Louis Philippe, who became Healy’s most important patron. In addition to portraits of the royal family, the king commissioned Healy to copy important works in the British royal collection and to paint portraits of American and European statesmen. In the midst of Healy’s transatlantic travels for such work, the 1848 revolution in France forced Louis Philippe into exile. Thanks to the artist’s extensive network of contacts in America and throughout Europe, however, he never lacked for work.
In 1851, Healy completed the most important of the few history paintings he made in his career, the ambitious, multi-figural Webster Replying to Hayne (Faneuil Hall, Boston), which he eventually sold to the City of Boston. In the 1850s, the artist increasingly focused on American commissions. In 1855, William Butler Ogden, who had served as the first mayor of Chicago, persuaded Healy to move to the rapidly growing city. In the decade that followed, he completed some five hundred portraits, many of them of leading citizens of Chicago. By far the most sophisticated and cosmopolitan artist yet to work there, Healy catalyzed the development of the city’s local cultural life. He also traveled widely to paint portraits of presidents and of military leaders during the Civil War era.
Partly to escape the stress of overwork, Healy returned to Europe in 1867. Based in Rome and later in Paris, he portrayed European nobility and royalty, as well as such notables as pianist and composer Franz Liszt, Pope Pius IX, and German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. In 1892, the artist returned to Chicago, where he died two years later. Although Healy enjoyed international celebrity in his lifetime, by the time of his death his likenesses, painted with a facile naturalism grounded in academic concerns for modeling and idealization, were outmoded. His works are widely distributed in American and European public collections, however, and in recent decades they have returned to display in American museums thanks to the revival of interest in nineteenth-century academic painting.