MEN I HAVE PAINTED
But l'homme propose et Dieu dispose. No amount of free will on my part could shake the inevitable rock of predestination, and the picture still remains in my imagination, a much more beautiful thing than it could have been on canvas.
No effort had been made to obtain sittings for me; that was left entirely to my own initiative. I expected there would be difficulties to overcome, but with such a goal for ambition, hope easily overcame them in advance. Several good people suggested good advice, but no one was willing to risk his amour propre, and when Onslow Ford, who was doing the portrait of the Duke of Norfolk, an amiable man of great goodwill, received a courteous note from His Grace to say that he could not interfere in so delicate a matter, I was aroused to the serious nature of the obstacles I should have to overcome. As much time had already been wasted in correspondence and interviews, I decided to go to Rome and take the bull by the horns.
Starting off with my wife, we first lingered in the inspiring atmosphere of Paris, and then hastened to Florence, where we greeted many old friends, and thence to Rome. It had been suggested that the head of the American College in Rome could assist me. Not wishing to waste any more time, I applied to the College, and while waiting for the reply from its Rector, went to the British Embassy and saw Sir Clare Ford, who greeted me with "Why do you come to me? You should go to the American Minister. So you want to paint the Pope, do you? Well, I'll bet you three hundred dollars you won't." I replied that I had come to him because he could help me, or suggest something, and that as I was an old resident of London and a ratepayer in two counties in England, I thought I
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