Hi Bob, I'm a bit older now, and less hair, but the
resemblance is uncanny. I take guests there
specifically to see the painting, and the staff is
always shocked. Thought you might find it amusing. Below, the
previous leader in the contest, Captain
Jack Sparrow, has been disqualified for
having entered three times.
I live in Chicago, and a number of years ago
attended conferences at the Union League Club. The
conferences were held on the 2nd floor of the club.
I never paid attention to the art work in the entry
way. During the conference a number of people
gathered outside the room we were in, and pointing
to me and calling for me to join them outside. This
is where the G. P. A Healy portrait of
Frémont hangs. You will understand from
my picture why they were so excited.
Mark Mysliwiec.
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G. P. A Healy portrait



The
little seen portrait at left by G. P. A. Healy (1813-1894)
is in the collection of the Union
League Club of Chicago. It shows Frémont in front
of a portion of the view of the Wind
River Range drawn by Charles
Preuss and published in the report of Frémont's
1842 expedition. Frémont is depicted as a man of
about the 28 years of age that he was in 1842. It is not
known, however, exactly when this portrait was painted, or
if it was done from life.
The Wind River view used by Healy is the version of the
Preuss drawing not published until 1845. The rank insignia
is that of Lieutenant Colonel, which indicates a date after
1846. There is some similarity to image shown at right,
which appears in James M. Cutts' The Conquest of
California and New Mexico, 1847. It is possible that
this, an engraving that may have been done from a
daguerreotype (and therefore reversed, or reversed again by
the engraver) was also used as the model for the Healy
painting.
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