Original oil portrait of unknown man by G.P.A. Healy--dated Jan. 1840, London

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Original oil portrait of unknown man by G.P.A. Healy--dated Jan. 1840, London:
$695.00

This is an original oil portrait of an unknown man, by famous American portrait painter, George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-1894). Provenance: We purchased this portrait in the 1980s at an estate sale sale in upstate New York on route 20. It is painted on a \"Flemish board\" as identified on the antique paper label on the back of the board (see scan). Signed on the lower right front together with year and location: \"Geo. P.A. Healy Jan\'y 1840 London\". Sad to say we have not been able to identify the sitter. This portrait on the special panel measures 15\" x 12 3/4\". There is no frame; however four straight pieces of wood are mounted around the Flemish board. Condition: the varnish has darkened (see color of his white vest where the varnish has chipped off), but should be no problem to clean by an experienced painting restorer or conservator. 3 small chips of paint (about 1/8\" each) are missing: one above the head, two along lower edge; all outside subject area. Otherwise the painting is stable and in remarkably good condition considering its age of 177 years! [А1001] Questions are welcome.Please inquire before paying, and tell us where you are located and what your preferred method of shipping is. A signature will be required upon delivery in the USA. Thank you for looking.
Background of artist:Healy was very productive and painted many well-known people of his day, to quote Wiki:Healy was one of the most prolific and popular painters of his day. He was remarkably facile, enterprising, courageous, and industrious. \"All my days are spent in my painting room\" (Reminiscences). His style, essentially French, was sound, his color fine, his drawing correct and his management of light and shade excellent. His likenesses, firm in outline, solidly painted, and with later glazings, are emphatic, rugged, and forceful.

Among his portraits of eminent persons are those ofDaniel Webster,Henry Clay,John Calhoun,Pope Pius IX,Arnold Henry Guyot,William H. Seward,Louis Philippe,Marshal Lyons,Sallie Wardand the Princess (later the queen) of Romania. He painted portraits of all the presidents of the United States fromJohn Quincy AdamstoUlysses Grant—this series being painted for theCorcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.[2][1]Healy also paintedThe Peacemakersin 1868 andAbraham Lincolnin 1869. In one large historical work,Webster\'s Reply toHayne(1851; inFaneuil Hall, Boston), there are one hundred and thirty portraits.

His principal works include portraits of Lincoln (Corcoran Gallery), Bishop (later Cardinal) McClosky (bishop\'s residence, Albany), Guizot (1841, in Smithsonian Institution),Audubon(1838, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist.), Comte de Paris (Met. Mus. Of Art, New York),Isaac Thomas HeckerC.S.P., Founder of the Paulist Fathers (North American Paulist Center, Washington, D.C.)

Healy\'s 1877 portrait of a young Lincoln was the model used for a Lincoln postage stamp, issued on February 12, 1959, the 150th anniversary of Lincoln\'s birth.