William Deering (1826–1913)
William Deering founded the Deering Harvester Company, which manufactured agricultural equipment around 1870. This company merged with the McCormick Reaper Company to form International Harvester in 1902, based in Chicago. Deering’s sons, Charles and James, held executive positions at International Harvester.
When William Deering’s health weakened, the family began spending time in Florida. By 1910 William had started wintering in Coconut Grove. Soon after, both sons began to design homes to be built in the Miami area. However, William died before construction began on the Vizcaya estate.
This portrait of William Deering was painted by Anders Zorn in 1897. Once Vizcaya’s Main House was completed, the portrait was hung in James Deering’s bedroom on the second floor. It is on loan to the museum and may currently be viewed in the Library on the first floor of Vizcaya’s Main House.
James Deering (1859–1925)
James Deering is not to be confused with John Deere––another manufacturer of agricultural machinery, and in the early 1900s, a competitor of International Harvester. By then, James had become one of America’s wealthiest people.
Shortly after his retirement from the family business in 1908, Deering began to plan a winter home. Like his father, he looked to Miami’s warm climate. In 1916 he took up residence at Vizcaya, which was just barely finished, and spent winter seasons there until his death in 1925.
This portrait of James Deering was painted when he was forty-four years old. At the time, the Swedish artist, Anders Zorn, was one of the most respected portrait artists in the US. This painting remained in the Deering family for more than a century and came to the museum in 2014 as a generous donation in memory of Deering’s great-grandniece, Barbara Strachan Deering Danielson. This portrait may currently be viewed in the Library on the first floor of Vizcaya’s Main House.
Portrait of James Deering by Anders Zorn
The Spring of 1917
American artist John Singer Sargent painted a watercolor portrait of James Deering when he visited Miami in 1917. Sargent came to Miami to visit his old friend Charles Deering, James Deering’s half-brother. During this time, Sargent was also a houseguest at Vizcaya.
Influenced by French impressionist artists, Sargent took up painting “en plein air,” or in the open air. At Vizcaya, Sargent produced watercolors that captured vistas of the estate along with rare moments and a glimpse of staff leisure that provide a unique record of life at Vizcaya.
In her memoir, Althea McDowell Altemus, Deering’s private secretary, recalls, “For a long time Sargent worked on this portrait and it was intended to be cherished through the generations.”
Upon its completion, Deering asked, “Well, how do you like it?” Altemus was frank in reply, “I don’t like it – you look too stern.” She reports she never saw the portrait again.
The portrait currently lives in the private collection of one of James Deering’s descendants.
