Pierce, Franklin Portrait by George Peter Alexander Healy

A Museum Quality Print of the President Franklin Pierce Portrait by George Peter Alexander Healy for sale by Brandywine General Store. This oil on canvas was finished by the artist in the year 1853 and was made from settings that were done the previous year in Boston in November 1852 during which time Healy also painted a portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne who was a close friend to President Pierce all thru his life. The original artwork measures 30 by 25 inches and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in the Smithsonian. Franklin Pierce served as the 14th President of the United States from 1853 to 1857. Pierce was a Northern Pro Slavery Democrat who saw the Abolitionist movement as a threat to the Nation. His popularity in the Northern States declined sharply after he supported the Kansas Nebraska Act which replaced the Missouri Compromise and again renewed debate over expansion of slavery in the American West. Due to his rapidly declining popularity the Democratic Party abandoned him and he was not nominated to run for election in 1856.

Franklin Pierce was born in 1804 and died in 1869. Pierce was personable and outgoing but his family life was a tragedy. His wife, Jane Means Appleton suffered from illness related to tuberculosis all her life and also was a victim of depression. They had three children all of whom died young. Franklin Jr died at 1 year of age, Frank Robert died at the age of four from typhus. Shortly after Pierce had won the election he and his family were trapped in a train from Boston when their car derailed and rolled down an embankment near Andover Massachusetts. Franklin and Jane survived but their only surviving boy, Benny who was 11 years old, was crushed to death and almost decapitated. So these are the circumstances in which President Pierce began his term in Washington DC. Pierce became a heavy drinker probably from all these hardships and died at the age of 64 from complications of cirrhosis of the liver.

At Fine Art Prints of Distinction we painstakingly repair the original files of these old paintings and print them using premium quality inks and paper. The end result is a beautiful, archival reproduction print that will last in your home for generations and at a low cost so anyone can now have great artworks in their home or business. Brandywine General Store is proud to offer for sale a premium fine art print made from the President Franklin Pierce Portrait by George Peter Alexander Healy.

Inventory #60 - Portraits of Famous People