Emile Munier (French, 1840-1895), "Portrait of Colonel Henry Octavius Seixas, New Orleans

Emile Munier (French, 1840-1895), "Portrait of Colonel Henry Octavius Seixas, New Orleans (1841-1911)," 1891, oil on canvas, signed and dated upper right, presented in a giltwood frame, H.- 36 1/4 in., W.- 29 in., Framed- H.- 41 1/4 in., W.- 33 1/2 in. Provenance: With the sitter through 1911, thence gifted to the New Orleans Home of Incurables by heirs to his Estate; Private Collection, New Orleans,1979-present. Note: This dignified and rare male portrait by Emile Munier captures Colonel Seixas at the height of his career as an established New Orleans and New York banker, philanthropist, Confederate Veteran and industrial magnate. Seixas was born in New York into an old 18th century Portuguese Jewish-American family that participated in the American Revolution and founded some of the oldest synagogues and institutions in the country, including Columbia University, and the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. The Seixas’ Southern roots are as equally as illustrious as major financial brokers to the Confederate Army, railways and cotton industry. The Seixas, their name meaning “stone” in Portuguese, were also prolific merchants of marble and granite with offices and residences in New Orleans and Charleston, South Carolina by the 1820s. Custom-made marble mantles and columns were produced for Victorian gilded age mansions by Henry's father Charles Louis. Henry Seixas’ cousin, James Madison Seixas was an important New Orleans cotton factor and brother-in-law to General P.T. Beauregard and statesman John Slidell through his marriage into the Deslondes family. Orphaned in 1844 at the age of 3, Henry Seixas and his three older brothers were raised in New Orleans by their maternal aunt, Josephine Hurd Armor (1806-1856), wife of the late James Armor with the Atchafalaya River and Banking Company. After attending the Centenary College of Louisiana in Jackson, Henry Seixas enlists with the Louisiana Guard in 1861 and is wounded in the Second Battle of Manassas, a pivotal victory for the Confederate Army. In 1863, the young Seixas assisted his brother-in-law Emile Erlanger and statesman Slidell in securing a 14.5-million-dollar loan for the Confederate Army backed by cotton bonds. Following the war, Seixas pursued the same direction as Erlanger. Keeping close ties with Paris banking and Wall Street, Seixas invested heavily in railroads, steel and land development. Seixas lived in New York City for more than thirty years and amassed an impressive collection of fine art; he, however, remained a Louisiana resident, keeping homes and his banking firm Fazende and Seixas in New Orleans. At the time of his death, Seixas was President of the Western Connecticut Railroad, Director of the Columbus and Hocking Coal and Iron Company, Director of the Davis Creek Coal and Coke Company, and Director of the Schloss Scheffield Steel and Iron Company. Seixas owned all Octav Land Company stock and held major shares in the Atlanta Street Railway Company and Houston Electric Street Railway. In 1916, the New York Times estimated the aggregate of his Estate to exceed $500,000. In the months preceding his death, Seixas downsized, selling shares of real estate and the majority of his fine art collection that included works by Dupre, Tissot, Henner, Ridgway-Knight, Beraud and Verboekhaven. This painting, commissioned in 1891, coincides with his April 1891 passport application where he is described as having straight gray hair, facial hair, brown eyes and light skin. In October he is reported to be sojourning at the Hotel Chatham in Paris with a male companion, where it is presumed he sat for this portrait, before returning to the U.S. in late November of 1891. Given his collection, Seixas had a keen appreciation for French genre painting of idealized peasants, children and young ladies of the Belle Epoque. A portrait by Emile Munier, a protege of Bouguereau, would have complimented Seixas' collection well. Though no other portraits or photographs of Henry O. Seixas were discovered, his countenance bears striking resemblance to other Seixas portraits, particularly the one of James Madison Seixas in the Louisiana State Museum. The inventory in Seixas' will includes an impressive “Life Sized Painting” of himself with a “gilded frame” valued at the equivalent of $1,000. The painting described therein is likely this portrait, which was later gifted to the Home for Incurables where it remained hanging in the Board Room until the State of Louisiana took control of the Home in 1979. Seixas was an ardent supporter of the Home for Incurables and bequeathed $15,000 to the instution in his will. Approximately $10,000 each was left to two women friends, and the rest of Seixas' Estate was divided three ways between his only two surviving heirs- nephews Charles Louis Seixas and Henry Octavius Jr. Seixas of New Orleans, and a close New Orleans friend, George A Wiegand, who later provided furnishing for the Home for Incurables.

In overall good professionally restored condition. with no repairs or inpainting to the face or most of the body. Painting has been relined and exhibits well-integrated inpainting under UV light. Prior to restoration, the painting was likely folded as it exhibits typical losses from horizontal creasing at measured intervals. Two creases in the top half of the painting have been filled/inpainted as have the edges where it was relined, a smaller partial third creases in the lower jacket also exhibits light horizontal inpainted filler. The face is intact except for a small line of inpainting under the chin and a few scattered inpainted touch ups are present in the jacket. ________________________________________________________________________________ ALL PROPERTY IS SOLD "AS IS." NO STATEMENT REGARDING CONDITION OF ANY ITEM, WHETHER IT IS MADE ORALLY AT THE AUCTION OR ANY OTHER TIME, OR IN WRITING IN THE CATALOGUE OR ELSEWHERE, SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE A WARRANTY, REPRESENTATION, OR ASSUMPTION OF LIABILITY.