Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1052459
attention. 16 "Oh, yes," said Weikert proudly, "that's a portrait of the former speaker of the house, Mr. Rainey. It was done by Howard Chandler Christy." "Well, what do you think of it?" replied the artist. "I've heard members say that it has too much color in the cheeks" the doorman responded. "Is that so?" Christy replied. "I'd like to see it closer. Would you let me come into the lobby?" "Sorry," Weikert said, "but this is restricted to members and newspaper men." The artist turned away, faintly smiling. Christy had won the battle, but more work needed to be done. This Ohio boy may have been 65 years of age then, but he was only just beginning and never wanted to be forgotten. 17 "Smiley" Born in a log cabin in Morgan County, Ohio on 10 January Fig. 4. The entrance of the Speaker's Lobby as it appears today. Christy's portrait of Rainey is to the far right. 5 1872, Howard Chandler Christy spent his youth on a farm overlooking the Muskingum River Valley. His close friendship with the river steamboat captains gained him the nickname of "Smiley" because of his perennially happy demeanor, but his childhood cus- tom of not wearing shoes earned him the sobriquet of the "Barefoot Boy of the Blue Muskingum," a name that stuck with him throughout life. From the bluffs of his boyhood home, the young Christy gazed down at the whistling steamboats, vowing that he would travel farther one day and would "paint big pictures of big things." 18 At the age of 18, Christy journeyed to New York City with $200 in his pocket and the dream of becoming a distinguished artist. 19 There, he studied under various painters at the Art Students League until the spring of 1891, when his funds ran out and he returned home. By 1892, he went back to New York, determined to become a success. William Merritt Chase, the era's foremost American impressionist, instructed Christy and declared him to be the most brilliant student he ever taught. During the Spanish-American War in 1898, Christy traveled alongside the U.S. Army to record the battles in visual form in Cuba. On his way there, he met then- Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and witnessed firsthand the bravery of the Colonel and his Rough Riders. Christy's sketches became the focal point for tens of thousands of American readers whose only glimpse of the crossfire would come from these works (fig. 5). Upon returning to New York City, Christy made a lucrative living illustrating books and magazines. Ever enterprising, he concentrated on portraying a new emerging figure—the modern American woman. Encouraged by friend and colleague Charles Dana Gibson, Christy invented the "Christy Girl," an ideal- ized portrayal of feminine perfection intermixed with THE CAPITOL DOME