Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-13
AN ANCESTRAL ARTIST.
How a Denver Painter Furnishes His
Customers with Ancestors to Order.
Dearsr tC0l~ Neics.

upon it the other day, and the rather sin
gular character of the term genealogical
artist rather attracted him. So he mounted
the stairs and knocked at door marked
simply by the Doctors card, which was
not more than three inches in length.
A rather poorly dressed man with a
gOod-humored face, and evidently of Eng
lish extraction, opened the door.
'sGOOd afternoon" said the occupant of
the room; ''can l do something for you in
my line to-dayf'
'sWell, perhaps sou said the reporter.
ssWhat is your charge for seryices?'
''Well, that depends on the matter in
hand. What sort of an ancestor would
you ike:''
San ancestor?'
Eyes. You want a genealogical por-
trait, / presume. I can paint you any
kind Of an ancestor you hke-English,
French, Scotch, Irish. Puritan, New Eng
trian, Russian or Italian. As for periods,
1 can make them of any century or epoch
you ike
''What do most people preferg"
"a first settler of jamestown, Va;
though lately, since dude ideas became so
prevalent, we are painting good many
portraits Of English ancestors of various
periods. If PERSONS an Episcopalian,
he wants a cavalier Of the days Of Charles
the Second. II he Is a Methodist, Con-
gregati0nalist or a Presbyterian, he wants
a man Of the days Of Queen Anne or
George the Second"
care men or women most preferred for
portraits:'
''Men, Of course, are most preferred, but
many just now are taking pair OF por-
traits-male and female. You see female
costumes show up best in portrait, while
everybody wants a male ancestOr-it
speaks better for family's morality to
have some male ancestOr-one at least"
SHOW do you do itP'
esWeII, you see, this is the modus Ope-
Iandi-but for heavens sake, don't give 1t
away: A man comes here who has sud-
denly grown rich. He has never before
thought much about his ancestors, and
has never been quite certain whether he
had any or not, but he suddenly discovers
that he has become and must necessarily
be blue-blOoded. So he wants one or two
nice family portraits, or sometimes
whole line Of ancestors. How do / get
them, you ask? Why, you just go into
my dressing-rOoms, and my assistant, who
is way up in costumes, picks out the
right rig, and you sit down in a chair, and
in a couple Of hours ! get the outline for
the portrait. The costume is fairly exact,
but the outline Of your face is the main
thing. The costume get some idea of,
and my assistant can sit for the filling in
Of the dress. Now, here is a portrait Of
the ancestor of a man up in Leadville.
The man suddenly struck it rich a few
years ago, and since that time his family
and himself have been flying it pretty
high. The man bore the plebeian name Of
Smith, and his ancestors were so numer-
Gus that il would be pretty hard to strike
good, straight genealogical record, but
portrait does the business better than
book on the genealOgies of the Smith fami-
" I reaf n4 q M Rnnlnnld
Smith, of Smith Hall. i presume there
was such a Smith. 1t would be very hard
to prove that there was not. so. here is
Capt Smith, who was stanch Church
man and ROyalist in the days of Queen
Elizabeth, and probably knew Shaks-
peare and Raleigh, and all those fei-
lows"
"Do you do anything in the line of her.
aldry!'
s'Yes, if people want it. There is a crest
on this Smith portrait, as you will observe.
Now, don't know much about heraldry.
and very few people have much of an ad-
vantage over me in that respect. But If
man wants a coat-of-arms, or a crest, or
anything else-dOn't know much about
these terms-I can paint it for him.
There isn't likely to be one in ten thou
sand to know whether it is correct one
or not.''
SHOW does man prove up on his por-
traits:''
so, l give him a genealogical chart if
he wants it very bad, but as a general
thing a man is contented with
short history of his ancestors. Here is
one of the ancestors of Doc Bags. lou
see the Doctor is very much stuck on
being considered a descendant of the Pu-
ritans-whOm he much resembles in char
acter-so paint picture of one OF those
sombre, lOng-haired fellows in black
jacket, who wears no powdered wig, and
whose face is a yard long. Well, here's
the description: Charles Baggs was the
son of a well-to-dO draper in London. he
was one of the men who came over on the
Mayflower and was a godly man, full of
zeal for the church. The chronicles OF
the Plymouth colony tell us that 'Ye peO-
pie at that time did much praise re
shrewde cunning with which our Charles
Bags did trade with We red man, and ye
Governor much commended him. Later
we learn that '0ne Charles Baggs stands
high in We cOunsels of Gov. Winthrop
The face, you will see, looks something as
Doc Bags would II ne was shaved"
ssDo YOU have much trade in Denver."
SO, yes, considerable. l have only been
here a few weeks, but have already more
work than 1 can attend to-"
''What are your prices? believe you
haven't told me-"
s'If an ancestor goes back a century
say to the revolutionary war-I charge
80 If he goes back to the Puritan pc
Rod in New England, or the Pilgrim pc
Rod, as historians prefer to call it, l make
a sudden Jump 10 $50; but / will paint an
English gentleman of the days of James
l. for $25; and for George III. English
man, which isn't much called for, let
the price down to IS. People, as rule,
don't value Tory ancestor very hlgnly.
Dutch ancestors, if ordered by New York
people, come at $40, if not of too remote
period. English cavaliers cost about 500,
as a general thing; Queen Anne people
about the same. OF course make reduc-
lions from these figures where fun lines
of ancestors are ordered"
Chow about remote ancestOrsY'
so, we stick it to people little more.
A Henry VIII. nObleman costs $50. An
ancestor of the days Of Henry Nv. OF
France costs about the same. A Norman
ancestor Of the days Of the Conquest can
be furnished for about $T5, and Saxon or
ancient Brit0n is $40, If done IN the worm
eaten Frame"
.sDo you regard the West as better
field for man Of your profession than the
East
SIN some respects, yes. You see have
been bothered in the East by cheap fraud
who has a chrome factory, and who used
to turn out ancestral portraits at greatly
reduced rates. He has agencies in New
York and Chicago, and, as half the people
can't tell a chrome from an Oil-paintiug,
he does a pretty good business, but here
in the West people want the best of every
thing, and 1 don't think l have much TO
fear from the chrome racket. You see in
the new West there are lots of people who
have made sudden fortunes, and it is
very necessary they should have ances-
tors, so 1 come in to supply long-felt
want. and to furnish something that
no well regulated family should be with
out"
Barbocci, in RdccOglltOre MedicO, re-
commends a mixture of equal parts Of
oamnhOr and animal charcoal as a suh-