5601

The Honourable Myron Timothy Herrick, American Ambassador to France 1922

Seated three-quarter length to the left, full face, on a Louis XVI-style armchair, wearing white tie evening dress with decorations and a red sash, his left arm resting on the arm of the chair, a signet ring on that hand which is placed on his thigh, against a dark background

Oil on canvas, 124.5 x 99.7 cm (49 x 39 ¼ in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / Paris / may

Sitters’ Book II, f. 30: Myron T. Herrick / Paris May 2nd 1922 / [in the artist’s hand: American Ambassador]

Greater Cleveland Growth Association, on permanent loan to the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

This portrait was commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce of Cleveland, Ohio. Correspondence between the artist and Princess Kara-Georgevitch [5857], shows that Cleveland lawyer Andrew Squire (1850-1934) suggested de László as the artist for the commission.^[1] Sittings took place in May 1922 and it was included in an exhibition at Knoedler’s Paris gallery in June. The Ambassador and his wife attended the opening reception.^[2] One reviewer noted that the portrait had successfully captured, “that particular ripple of the lips which is so characteristic and so familiar to those who know him.”^[3] A copy by Stevenson Wright was donated to the US Government Building opened in Paris in the autumn of 1933 [111279].^[4]

De László visited Cleveland in 1931 with Harvey Firestone Jr [110650], describing the city as “formidable in the electrifying spirit of its making.” He was commissioned by the the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce to paint the portrait of Ambrose Swasey [7227] during this visit and saw the present portrait at the Chamber of Commerce. He  noted in his diary that he considered it, “amongst my very best work - & fulfils my ambition.”^[5] 

Myron Timothy Herrick was born 9 October 1854 in Huntington, Ohio, to Timothy Robinson Herrick, a farmer and his wife Mary. He was educated at Ohio Wesleyan College and practiced law in Cleveland for eight years before focusing on a career in banking. In 1886 he organized the Euclid Avenue National Bank and began a long association with the Society for Savings, where he served in various executive positions until 1921. On 30 June 1880 he married Carolyn M. Parmely (1855-1918); they had one son, Parmely Webb Herrick (born 1881).

As a Republican he was elected governor of Ohio in 1903 and future US President Warren G. Harding [5569] served as his Lieutenant Governor. In 1912 he was appointed Ambassador to France by President William Taft. His term was completed in 1914 but he remained in Paris after the outbreak of World War I. Herrick was commended for his assistance in evacuating stranded Americans from Europe and providing relief to the war victims. In 1921 he was reappointed as Ambassador to France by President Harding. Postwar relations between the US and France were strained but Herrick skilfully negotiated Charles Lindbergh’s historic transatlantic flight landing in Paris in 1927. He was the first to greet the aviator.

Herrick died of a heart attack on 31 March 1929 while still serving as Ambassador. In his will he left $70,000 to build the Herrick Public Libary in Wellington, Ohio as a memorial to his mother and father. He further left $15,000 to the American Hospital in Paris in memory of his wife.

The sitter was also painted by Sir William Orpen in 1934.^[6]

PROVENANCE:

Presented to the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, formerly the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, on permanent loan to the Western Reserve Historical Society

EXHIBITED:

•M. Knoedler & Co., Paris, June 1922^[7]

•Doll & Richards Galleries, Boston, Portraits by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., 1-10 October 1925, no. 6

•M. Knoedler & Co., New York, Exhibition of Portraits by Philip A. de Laszlo, M.V.O., 19-31 October 1925, no. 14

•The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Special Exhibition of Portraits by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., 5-27  

  December 1925, no. 5

•The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Special Exhibition of Portraits by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., 31

  December 1925-10 January 1926, no. 5

LITERATURE:

•Grange, Paulin, “Les Portraits de Philippe A. de László,” La Revue de l’Art Ancien et Moderne, Vol. XLII, no. 238 (July-August 1922), p. 140

•“Notable Portraits by Philip A. De Laszlo,” The Spur, Vol. XXXVI, no. 7 (1 October 1925), p. 64, ill.

•Mott, Col. Thomas Bentley, Myron T. Herrick, Friend of France: An Autobiographical Biography, 1929, p. 268

•The New York Times, 23 April 1933

•DLA092-0095, “Portrait Painter Holds Reception,” The New York Herald, Paris, Wednesday, 7 June 1922

•DLA092-0081, ‘Mahlstick’ [author], “Art Notes,” Paris Evening Telegram, 10 June 1922

•DLA092-0067, “Exposition Laszlo,” Le Gaulois, 12 June 1922

•DLA073-0058, letter from Daria, Princess Kara-Georgevitch, to de László, 5 September 1931

•László, Philip de, 1931 diary, private collection, 27 October entry, p. 304; 19 December entry, p. 357

MD & KF 2016