G.P.A. Healy, Half-length Portrait, Facing Front

  • Title: [G.P.A. Healy, Half-length Portrait, Facing Front]
  • Date: [between 1844 and 1860]
  • Description: Oval portrait photograph of a dark-haired man with mustache and tiny goatee dressed in formal clothing.
  • Historical Note: George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-1894) may have been the best-known portraitist of his era when he painted portraits of President James K. Polk and Sarah Childress Polk at the White House in 1846. Healy had painted professionally since the age of 18 and had studied in Paris and Rome, spending 16 years there and winning a gold medal at the 1855 salon. He was a favorite of Louis-Philippe of France, for whom he had traveled to Tennessee to paint a portrait of former president Andrew Jackson in 1845, which proved to be the last year of his life. Healy also took the opportunity to paint James K. Polk and his wife.
  • Contributing Institution: Library of Congress
  • 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 the Library of Congress.
  • Digital Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
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