The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris
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132 “modern scientific medicine”: Warner, Against the Spirit of System, 363.
133 John Collins Warren, at age seventy: Warren, The Parisian Education of an American Surgeon, 64.
133 A month later, on November 12, 1846: Ibid.
134 “He was never tired”: Morse, Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Vol. I, 1, 77.
134 “He had that quality”: Holmes, “Some of My Early Teachers,” in Medical Essays, 1842–1882, 532–33.
135 “that I gave myself”: Ibid., 433.
135 “the best of all”: Holmes, “Scholastic and Bedside Teaching,” in Medical Essays, 1842–1882, 305.
135 “He never allowed his interests”: Bowditch, Life and Correspondence of Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, Vol. I, 262.
136 While medicine is your chief aim: Ibid., 262–63.
136 “I suspect that my ear-drums”: Arnold, Memoir of Jonathan Mason Warren, M.D., 254.
136 “Found my old garçon, John”: Bowditch, Life and Correspondence of Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, Vol. I, 318.
136 “as beautiful in his old age”: Ibid., 144.
5. American Sensations
The advantage of the English language newspaper Galignani’s Messenger as a window on American life in Paris can hardly be overstated. Founded in 1814, it became a daily paper that covered virtually all aspects of political, business, cultural, social, and international news and with a degree of objectivity rare for a Paris paper. For following events surrounding les sensations américaines, it has been of immense help.
S. Frederick Starr’s Louis Moreau Gottschalk is a superb biography of the brilliant pianist, and best by far on George Catlin and his show are Catlin’s own writings in The Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians.
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139 We were met on the steps: Catlin, The Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians, Vol. II, 211.
139 “the most beautiful”: Gernsheim and Gernsheim, L. J. M. Daguerre: The History of the Diorama and the Daguerreotype, 89.
139 the paddle steamer Sirius: See New York Herald articles, May 2–June 21, 1838.
140 “Little Healy”: Healy, Reminiscences of a Portrait Painter, 25.
140 Arriving in Paris at age twenty-one: Ibid., 34–35.
141 “Perhaps many a young and audacious”: Ibid., 108.
141 “went to work with a will”: Ibid., 36.
141 He coolly turned over my sheet: Ibid., 78.
141 “There was in Couture’s”: Ibid., 80.
142 “a saddened and almost despairing”: Ibid., 37.
142 “Gros est un homme”: Ibid., 38.
142 “He had outlived his popularity”: Ibid., 39.
142 My life at this time was a life: Ibid.
142 His physical appearance: De Mare, G. P. A. Healy, American Artist, 28.
142 He was seldom still: Healy, Reminiscences of a Portrait Painter, 109, 40.
143 General Lewis Cass, asked Healy: Ibid., 116, 52.
143 In June of 1838: Ibid., 204, 167.
143 Audubon was in London: Ibid., 205.
143 “enough to fix my destinies”: Ibid., 43.
143 In the spring of 1839: Ibid., 45.
143 “not a penny”: Ibid., 47.
143 General Cass, who was on excellent terms: Ibid., 116.
144 Before beginning the portrait: Ibid., 117–18.
144 Healy found Louis-Philippe easy to talk to: Ibid., 118.
144 The concierge kept the place clean: Ibid., 48.
144 They began entertaining: Ibid., 44–45.
145 “perfectly charming”: Ibid., 177.
145 “cold”: Ibid., 175, 179.
146 “Healy is an excellent fellow”: Appleton, Life and Letters of Thomas Gold Appleton, 243–44.
146 “a rather better place”: Healy, Reminiscences of a Portrait Painter, 50.
146 In 1842, at the request of the king: Ibid., 121.
146 When the king and others: De Mare, G. P. A. Healy, American Artist, 111.
146 “a magnificent-looking man”: Healy, Reminiscences of a Portrait Painter, 163.
146 In the spring of 1845: Ibid., 139.
147 “Can’t sit, sir”: Ibid.
147 The visitor from Paris: Ibid., 141, 144, 145.
147 From Tennessee: Ibid., 145.
147 It seemed odd: Ibid., 153–54.
147 “Brush them off on one side”: Ibid., 156.
148 “I was but a small boy then”: Ibid., 154.
148 “In those far-away days”: Ibid., 160.
148 “Having been delayed”: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 358.
148 “The beauty of the Seine”: New York Herald, September 18, 1838.
148 Morse thought their hotel: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 359.
149 “You cannot know the depth”: Ibid., 361.
149 He welcomed the prospect: Silverman, Lightning Man, 129–32.
149 Moreover, to his extreme embarrassment: Ibid., 122.
149 A new position as professor: Ibid., 124.
149 carrying in his groceries after dark: Morse, Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters and Journals, Vol. II, 43.
149 For a long time: Cooper, Letters and Journals of James Fenimore Cooper, Vol. I, 80, 143–44.
149 “historical edifice”: Ibid., 80.
149 Morse had joined in the Nativist movement: Silverman, Lightning Man, 139.
150 “The serpent has already commenced”: Ibid., 135.
150 Mr. Morse is a scholar and a gentleman: New York Commercial Advertiser, April 19, 1836.
150 But when word reached Morse: Silverman, Lightning Man, 144–45.
150 “Dismiss it then from your mind”: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 290.
151 He “staggered under the blow”: Silverman, Lightning Man, 145.
151 “quite ill”: Cooper, Letters and Journals of James Fenimore Cooper, Vol. III, 259.
151 “divine authorization”: Silverman, Lightning Man, 145.
151 “Painting has been a smiling mistress”: Morse, Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters and Journals, Vol. II, 31.
151 He must attend to one thing: Ibid., Vol. I, 3.
151 The apparatus he had devised: Ibid., Vol. II, 38–39.
151 “so rude”: Ibid., 42.
151 His chief problem: Ibid., 54–55.
151 By increasing the power: Silverman, Lightning Man, 160.
152 A physician from Boston: Ibid., 153, 156.
152 “mutual discovery”: Ibid., 156.
152 “I cannot conceive of”: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 380.
152 And for this reason: Cooper, Letters and Journals of James Fenimore Cooper, Vol. VI, 43.
152 Morse sent a preliminary request: Silverman, Lightning Man, 159, 161, 163, 164.
152 In a larger space: Ibid., 165–66.
152 “write at a distance”: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 337.
152 They set up their apparatus: Silverman, Lightning Man, 168, 169.
153 The wonder of Morse’s invention: Ibid., 169.
153 Yet Morse felt he must have government support: Morse, Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters and Journals, Vol. II, 92.
153 “The ground of objection”: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 358.
153 Paris was to treat him better: Ibid., 360.
153 For the sake of economy: Ibid., 362.
153 “great inventors who are generally permitted”: Morse, Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters and Journals, Vol. II, 107.
153 “levee day”: Ibid., 107.
154 “the grand exhibitor”: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 362.
154 I explained the principles: Ibid., 362.
154 “So you want to be an artist?”: Healy, Reminiscences of a Portrait Painter, 34–35.
155 “wonderful discovery”: Silverman, Lightning Man, 188.
155 “He gave it a thorough examination”: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 363.
155 “My present instrument�
�: Ibid., 363.
155 The savants of the Académie convened: Silverman, Lightning Man, 179.
155 “in the midst of the most celebrated”: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 365.
155 There was not a familiar face: Ibid., 364–65.
155 “A buzz of admiration”: Ibid., 365.
155 The event was acclaimed in the Paris: Silverman, Lightning Man, 179.
155 Comptes Rendus: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 366.
156 “transcends all yet made known”: Ibid., 368.
156 “another revolution is at hand”: Ibid., 369.
156 I do not doubt: Ibid.
156 “In being abroad”: Ibid., 368.
156 “most flattering”: Ibid., 370.
156 “Everything moves at a snail’s pace”: Ibid., 371.
156 “Dilatoriness”: Ibid., 374.
157 “There is more of the ‘go-ahead’ ”: Ibid., 377.
157 By March: Silverman, Lightning Man, 189.
157 paid a visit to Monsieur Louis Daguerre: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 389–90.
157 “I am told every hour”: Ibid., 388.
157 Skilled in theatrical lighting: Ibid., 15–17.
157 “flocking”: Ibid., 18.
158 “We cannot sufficiently urge”: Ibid.
158 Years before: Silverman, Lightning Man, 189.
158 “one of the most beautiful discoveries”: Morse, Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters and Journals, Vol. II, 129.
158 They are produced on a metallic: Gernsheim and Gernsheim, L. J. M. Daguerre: The History of the Diorama and the Daguerreotype, 89.
158 Morse stayed: Ibid., 90.
159 Morse’s account of his visit: Ibid., 129.
159 Once Morse arrived back in New York: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 394.
159 “throughout the United States your name”: Gernsheim and Gernsheim, L. J. M. Daguerre: The History of the Diorama and the Daguerreotype, 129.
159 With help from a professor of chemistry: Ibid., 132.
159 Four years later, in July of 1844: Galignani’s Messenger, July 12, 1844.
159 “What hath God wrought!”: Morse, Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters and Journals, Vol. II, 222.
160 Democratic National Convention: Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 497.
160 “This is indeed the annihilation”: Galignani’s Messenger, July 12, 1844.
160 Coinciding with all this excitement: Starr, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 59.
160 With a genius for publicity: Saxon, P. T. Barnum: The Legend and the Man, 9.
161 “The people like to be humbugged”: New York Times, November 9, 2007.
161 a child from Bridgeport, Connecticut: Saxon, P. T. Barnum: The Legend and the Man, 123–24.
161 He was perfectly formed: Barnum, Struggles and Triumphs of Forty Years’ Recollections of P. T. Barnum, 16.
161 “for the opportunity”: Ibid., 135.
161 He paid the boy’s parents: Ibid., 163.
161 “to test the curiosity”: Ibid., 165.
161 “decided hit”: Ibid., 173.
161 before Her Majesty Queen Victoria: Ibid., 176–77.
161 “The French are exceedingly impressionable”: Ibid., 192.
161 He settled Tom: Ibid., 188–89.
162 Yet Tom Thumb: Ibid., 193.
162 Tom came attired: New York Commercial Advertiser, April 26, 1845.
162 “apt pupil”: Barnum, Struggles and Triumphs of Forty Years’ Recollections of P. T. Barnum, 164.
162 When a lady: New York Commercial Advertiser, April 26, 1845.
162 The king asked: Ibid., April 16, 1845.
162 Tom performed an original dance: Ibid., April 26, 1845.
163 Reportedly the wardrobe: Ibid.
163 “FOR A SHORT TIME ONLY”: Galignani’s Messenger, March 24, 1845.
163 The grace, readiness: Ibid., March 27, 1845.
163 Shop windows: Barnum, Struggles and Triumphs of Forty Years’ Recollections of P. T. Barnum, 193.
163 So great was the attendance: Ibid., 193.
163 The pale, slender: Starr, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 59–60.
164 The boy had been born: Ibid., 15, 24, 21, 29, 33, 45.
164 One immensely wealthy young woman: Ulrich Leben and Robert McDonald Parker, The American Ambassador’s Residence in Paris, Special Issue of Connaissance des Arts (Paris: SFPA, 2007), 10–11.
164 Young Moreau was enrolled: Starr, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 46.
165 “This child is surprising”: Ibid., 48, 49.
165 Moreau had been in Paris three years: Ibid., 59.
165 According to one study: Ibid., 50.
165 Chopin outshone them all: Ibid., 55.
165 His debut at the Salle Pleyel: Ibid., 59.
166 “Good, my child”: Ibid., 60.
166 “the neatness and elegance of his playing”: Le Courrier de la Louisiane, May 17, 1845.
166 “chiefly to the upper ranks”: Ibid.
166 Midway into April: Galignani’s Messenger, April 17, 1845.
166 Besides the more than five hundred paintings: Catlin, The Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians, Vol. II, 211.
166 Catlin’s story: See generally, Obituary, New York Times, December 24, 1872, and William Dunlap, “Mr. Catlin’s Lectures,” NewYork Mirror, October 14, 1837.
166 “a whole lifetime of enthusiasm”: Gurney and Heyman, eds., George Catlin and His Indian Gallery, 30.
167 “a vast country of green fields”: Ibid., 40.
167 “the proud and heroic elegance”: Ibid., 28.
167 “rescue from oblivion”: Catlin, The Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians, Vol. I, 217.
167 In 1839 he offered: Gurney and Heyman, eds., George Catlin and His Indian Gallery, 63.
167 The paintings went on display: Ibid., 65–66, 69.
168 The servants in the house: Ibid., 206.
168 “There was a great outcry”: Ibid., 207.
168 “My father”: Ibid., 208.
168 Others in the delegation included: Galignani’s Messenger, April 17, 1845.
168 “of fine stature”: Ibid.
169 While the Indians continued their sightseeing: Catlin, The Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians, 205.
169 “No tragedian ever trod the stage”: Gurney and Heyman, eds., George Catlin and His Indian Gallery, 157.
170 all with their wampum: Catlin, The Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians, Vol. II, 211.
170 “in the most free and familiar manner”: Ibid.
170 “Tell these good fellows”: Ibid., 212.
170 In the winter of 1797–98: Dippie, Catlin and His Contemporaries: The Politics of Patronage, 120.
170 “This,” wrote Catlin: Catlin, The Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians, 212.
171 With ceremony befitting a head of state: Ibid., 212–14.
171 “and sounding the frightful war-whoop”: Ibid., 215.
172 “the most magnificent place God ever prepared”: Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. I, 24.
172 “energy of character and skill”: Catlin, The Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians, 319.
172 In the midst of such reflections: Ibid., 320.
173 “crowds of savants”: Galignani’s Messenger, May 24, 1845.
173 “drawing full and fashionable”: Ibid., May 30, 1845.
173 “wild America” and “natural man”: Sand, “Relation d’un Voyage Chez les Sauvages de Paris,” Le Diable à Paris: Paris et Les Parisiens, 205–207.
173 Delacroix was among: Gurney and Heyman, eds., George Catlin and His Indian Gallery, 75.