• Study for the Portrait of President Millard Fillmore
    G. P. A. Healy
    portrait
    This charcoal and chalk on paper study of President Millard Fillmore's was created by George Peter Alexander Healy, sometimes known as G. P. A. Healy, on December 12, 1857. Healy used this study for the official portrait of President Fillmore in the White House Collection. Healy was one of the most popular and prolific portraitists of the mid-19th century. Fillmore had served in the House of Representatives and was vice president when President Zachary Taylor died suddenly while in office in 1850. Fillmore served as president from July 9, 1850 until March 4, 1853.
  • Alexander Baring, First Baron Ashburton, Blair House Collection
    G. P. A. Healy
    This is a portrait of Alexander Baring, the First Baron of Ashburton, completed by G. P. A. Healy, better known as George Peter Healy, in 1842. Baring met with Secretary of State Daniel Webster in 1842 to negotiate a treaty concerning the northeastern boundary between the United States and Canada. After Healy painted a portrait of Webster, he convinced Baring to sit for this portrait. This portrait is a part of the Blair House Collection. Blair House is located across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House and has been used as the president's guest house since the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration.
  • John Tyler
    G. P. A. Healy
    official portrait
    This oil on canvas painting of President John Tyler was done by George Peter Alexander Healy. Healy was one of the most popular and prolific portraitists of the mid-nineteenth century. Tyler became president after President William Henry Harrison passed away from pneumonia a month into his presidency. Tyler was the first Vice President to become President without being elected to the office. He served out the remainder of Harrison's term, from 1841 to 1845. Prior to his roles in the executive branch, Tyler represented the State of Virginia in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
  • Martin Van Buren
    G. P. A. Healy
    official portrait
    This oil on canvas painting of President Martin Van Buren was done by George Peter Alexander Healy. Healy was one of the most popular and prolific portraitists of the mid-nineteenth century. Prior to becoming president, Van Buren was the governor of New York and represented New York in the U.S. Senate. He was also the Vice President for President Andrew Jackson. His administration was from 1837 to 1841.
  • John Quincy Adams
    G. P. A. Healy
    official portrait
    This oil on canvas painting of President John Quincy Adams was done by George Peter Alexander Healy. Healy was one of the most popular and prolific portraitists of the mid-nineteenth century. John Quincy Adams was the son of President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams. Prior to his presidency, Quincy Adams was a diplomat to the Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, and the United Kingdom. He served as Secretary of State under President James Monroe and is the only president who went on to serve in the House of Representatives after being president. Adams represented his home state, Massachusetts, in the House.
  • Millard Fillmore
    G. P. A. Healy
    official portrait
    This oil on canvas painting of President Millard Fillmore was done by George Peter Alexander Healy, sometimes known as G. P. A. Healy. Healy was one of the most popular and prolific portraitists of the mid-nineteenth century. Millard Fillmore had served in the House of Representatives and was Vice President when President Zachary Taylor died suddenly while in office in 1850. Fillmore served as President from July 9, 1850 until March 4, 1853.
  • Abraham Lincoln
    G. P. A. Healy
    official portrait
    This portrait of Abraham Lincoln was created by George Peter Alexander Healy (sometimes known as G. P. A. Healy) in 1869, not long after Lincoln's assassination on April 15, 1865. Lincoln originally sat for Healy in 1864, and the artist depicted Lincoln in this pose in a painting entitled The Peacemakers, an 1868 work that showed Lincoln conferring with Union military leaders during the final days of the Civil War. After Lincoln's death, Healy realized that the painting made an impressive portrait of Lincoln alone and painted three replicas, one of which became part of the White House collection. Lincoln became president on March 4, 1861 and had served in the House of Representatives earlier in his life.
  • Franklin Pierce
    G. P. A. Healy
    official portrait
    This oil on canvas painting of President Franklin Pierce was done by George Peter Alexander Healy, sometimes known as G. P. A. Healy. Healy was one of the most popular and prolific portraitists of the mid-nineteenth century. President Pierce fought in the Mexican-American War with the rank of brigadier general and represented New Hampshire in both the House of Representative and the Senate prior to becoming president.
  • James Polk
    G. P. A. Healy
    official portrait
    This oil on canvas painting of President James Polk was done by popular portraitist George Peter Alexander Healy (sometimes known as G. P. A. Healy) in 1858, nine years after Polk's death. Prior to his time in the White House, Polk served in the House of Representatives and was governor of Tennessee. He served as president from March 4, 1845 until March 4, 1849. He added to the size of the country by annexing the Republic of Texas and acquiring California, New Mexico, and the Oregon Territory, which includes the current day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming.
  • The Peacemakers, White House Collection
    G. P. A. Healy
    transportation
    military
    meetings
    Virginia
    Civil War
    White House Collection
    This painting by George Peter Alexander Healy depicts four significant Union figures toward the end of the Civil War. In the cabin of the steamer River Queen are seated (from left to right) Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, President Abraham Lincoln, and Rear Admiral David D. Porter. The meeting took place in March 1865 on the James River in City Point, Virginia, less than a week before the fall of Petersburg, Virginia. According to Porter, the discussion flowed mostly between Lincoln and Sherman, which is reflected in all four subjects' body language. Sherman had previously sat for a portrait by Healy and commissioned the artist to paint the meeting, providing him with first-hand accounts by himself and Porter and even a diagram of the cabin. Born in Boston, Healy was a popular portrait painter who had sketched and painted Lincoln multiple times during his presidency.
  • Daniel Webster, White House Collection
    G. P. A. Healy
    portraits
    likeness
    Congress
    Cabinet
    White House Collection
    This mid-19th century portrait of U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Daniel Webster is by George Peter Alexander Healy, sometimes known as G. P. A. Healy. Healy was a prolific portrait artist. He has nine works in the White House Collection, including portraits of presidents Abraham Lincoln, John Quincy Adams, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, John Tyler, and Martin Van Buren. Webster was a highly regarded orator and served as secretary of state under three different presidents (William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore). He also served in the House of Representatives and the Senate, representing New Hampshire and Massachusetts.