Kentucky Collection

GEORGE PETER ALEXANDER HEALY
(American, 1813-1894)

Sallie Ward, 1860
Oil on canvas
Gift of Miss Ruth Hunt 1939.96
Painting and frame conservation by Edith and Jacob Horn, The Horn Foundation.

Portrait artist George Peter Alexander Healy called this woman the most exquisite he ever painted. Mrs. Sallie Ward Lawrence Hunt Armstrong Downs (her full name) was a true southern belle in every sense of the word.

The daughter of a wealthy Kentucky politician, she grew up in Louisville. Kentuckians admired her grace and beauty, but others less affectionately deemed her childish, spoiled and something of a prankster. She was known throughout the South for her lavish parties and her trademark lavender carriage.

Sallie was married four times. Her first marriage to a conservative Bostonian ended in divorce after only a few months. Her most successful marriages were to Dr. Robert Hunt and George Downs, men who accepted her exuberant personality. Her last years were spent at Louisville’s Galt House, where she died in 1896.