Martin Van Buren's genius as a backroom strategist earned him the nickname of "Little Magician." But when he succeeded to the White House following his tenure as Andrew Jackson's Vice President, the gift for orchestration that he had enlisted to promote Jackson's cause proved of little avail in advancing his own. At the heart of the problem was an economic depression that persisted through most of his term. Roundly blamed for this misfortune, he became known as "Martin Van Ruin." Damaging him further was a taste for the finer things of life, which led critics to portray him as a perfumed dandy, indifferent to the country's current sufferings. Over the years, however, Van Buren's presidential reputation has improved, and today he is often lauded for his evenhanded foreign policy and landmark support for limiting the hours of workers on public projects.

This portrait was one of the first likenesses acquired for the White House under a congressional act of 1857 authorizing the purchase of presidential portraits. The artist named to do the work in the legislation was George P. A. Healy, one of mid-nineteenth-century America's most popular portraitists.

George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-1894)
Oil on canvas, 1864 after a life study of 1858
Lent by the White House Collection
L/NPG.2.74

Enlarged image

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