A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana - (Page 43)

GEORGE PETER ALEXANDER HEALY b. July 15, 1813, Boston, Massachusetts d. June 24, 1894, Chicago, Illinois James Robb, ca. 1845 Oil on canvas; 59 x 45 in. The Historic New Orleans Collection A prolific and inventive artist, George Peter Alexander Healy is often cited as the finest American portraitist of his generation. Healy’s talent was acknowledged in Boston, Massachusetts; Paris, France; London, England; and Chicago, Illinois. Attracted by the vigorous market for portraiture in New Orleans, Healy spent several seasons painting there during the 1840s and 1850s. He won a first-class medal at the 1855 Paris International Exhibition—the highest French honor to that point accorded an American painter. Healy’s sitters represented elite members of society in Louisiana. The three-quarter length James Robb reinforces the businessman’s political and social power with a stormy sky, a swag of drapery, and a framing Doric column, visual conceits usually reserved for political or military leaders. Healy was a tireless worker, completing about three thousand portraits during his career. An outspoken abolitionist known for his portraits of Abraham Lincoln, he nevertheless accepted commissions from Confederate leaders such as General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. RAL COLONIAL THROUGH ANTEBELLUM LOUISIANA 43  http://www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=1157 http://www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=1157

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A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana

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