Portrait of President James K. Polk

  • Creator: George P.A. Healy, (1813-1894)
  • Title: Portrait of President James K. Polk
  • Date: 1846
  • Description: In this bust length portrait a man looks to his left wearing a white shirt with black cravat and visible white shirt front.
  • Historical Note: George Peter Alexander Healy, 1813-1894, painted this image of James Polk, one of a pair of portraits, while President Polk was in office. The paintings, along with furnishings used by the Polks at the White House and later at Polk Place, were donated to the ancestral home of James K. Polk by Mrs. Polk's niece. President Polk wrote about the experience in his diary in January 1846: "Saw company as usual in my office until 12 o'clock today. At 1 o'clock PM Mr. Healy, the French artist, sent to the U.S. by the king of the French to take the portraits of Genl. Jackson and other distinguished persons, called and exhibited the original portraits of Genl. Jackson, Mr. John Quincy Adams and Mr. Henry Clay. They were exhibited in the parlor below the stairs in the presence of the ladies of the family and some company who had called. I thought the portrait of Genl. Jackson, which was completed only four days before his death, very good. Those of Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay were fair likenesses." President Polk's portrait required multiple sittings by the president, who recorded the events in his diary, noting on April 6, 1846 that they were completed and he was "heartily glad of it."
  • Institution: James K. Polk Ancestral Home
  • Rights: Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only. For research inquiries about specific objects or requests for high resolution images, contact James K. Polk Ancestral Home.
  • URL: http://cdm15838.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/shades
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