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Charles Edward Francis McCann 1934

Seated half-length to the right, looking full face to the viewer, wearing United States naval mess dress, his cap in his left hand, his right resting on his thigh

Oil on canvas, 100 x 75 cm (39.5 x 29.5 in.)

Inscribed lower left: de Lászlo / 1934 X

Juley negative PPJ – 0058554

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 77: Charles E.F. McCann Jan 23 – 1934

De László made his fifth and final visit to America from December 1933 until April 1934. The McCann patronage began in 1932, when the artist painted the sitter’s daughters Constance [110596] and Helena [110597]. Charles McCann and his wife Helena [110594] were both painted in New York in December 1933 and January 1934 [110594] and the latter again in London in 1936 [6390] [6393].

Sittings for the present portrait began 17 January 1934 and a preparatory drawing [6385] remained in de László’s possession until his death. The sitter chose to be painted in naval mess dress, which the artist did not approve of, and his dislike of Mr McCann is evident from his diary: “it will be attractive to paint him with but he looks like a ship waiter in it – I do my best to make it picturesque – [as] if on a yacht.”^[1] Further sittings took place on 18, 19, 23, 24, 26 and 27 January, when the portrait was completed.^[2] This portrait and that of the sitter’s wife were commissioned through M. Knoedler & Co., in New York; the honorarium was $15,000, of which, the artist lamented, he had “to give up 3000 $ to Knoedlers!”^[3]

Charles Edward Francis McCann was born 3 August 1876 in New York City, the son of Patrick H. McCann (1845-1910) and his wife Maria Frazier (1850-1908). His father emigrated from Ireland to New York in 1868 and worked as a mechanic. His uncle was Richard Croker (1843-1922), leader of New York’s influential Tammany Hall, an organisation which was influential in New York politics and helped Irish immigrants establish themselves successfully.

Charles McCann graduated from Columbia University in 1896 and served as Assistant District Attorney. Moving into private law practice, he became a partner in the law firm of Douglas, Armitage & McCann, and also served as Corporation Counsel for Poughkeepsie, New York. On 20 April 1904 he married Helena Maud Woolworth, eldest of three daughters of store magnate Frank Winfield Woolworth. There were four children of the marriage: Constance (born 1905), Frasier (born 1908), Gladys (born 1910) and Helena (born 1913). 

The sitter acted as attorney for the estate of his father-in-law, Frank Woolworth, valued at over $78 million. His wife, her sister and niece were the equal beneficiaries.

The McCanns lived in a townhouse at 4 E. 80th Street, built for them by Helena’s father and had country homes at Sunken Orchard, Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York and Gulf View Road in Palm Beach, Florida. In 1925 they purchased Winfield Hall in Glen Cove, the “dream house” her father had built but never lived in.^[4] In 1935 they bought Beauport, the Gloucester, Massachusetts, home of the late Henry Davis Sleeper. This was presented to Historic New England in 1942 by their children as a permanent memorial to their mother and is now known as the Sleeper-McCann house. 

Charles McCann was an art collector, at the time of his death having amassed a collection that included several works by the Dutch artist Frans Hals. He was a yachting enthusiast and, from 1931 to 1939, owned the 247-foot diesel-powered yacht Chalena. He also maintained one of the last horse-drawn coaches driven on Long Island. He had a reputation as one of the best-dressed men in New York. He was a member of the Metropolitan, Creek, National Golf Links, New York Yacht, Turf and Field, River, and Piping Rock Clubs, and of The Pilgrims.

Helena McCann died in 1938 and her husband survived her for just three years, dying 31 January 1941 at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida.^[5]

LITERATURE:

•László, Philip de, 1933-1934 diary, private collection, 17 January 1934 entry, p. 79; 18 January 1934 entry, p. 80; 19 January 1934 entry, p. 82; 23 January 1934 entry, p. 85; 24 January 1934 entry, p. 87; 26 January 1934 entry, p. 88; 27 January 1934 entry, p. 89; 12 February 1934 entry, p. 105

MD & KF 2021