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The model for this portrait, and six others was Paddy Ryan.
Of him Brown said, "I cannot conclude ... without reference to one of the urchins who
did much to promote my interest in the youngsters of the street. He called himself Paddy
Ryan.... He was with me for a long time, posing for many pictures. His chief delight was
to get to the studio ahead of me ... and arrange my palette.... One Thanksgiving I
remember sending to his folks a fine big turkey, for they were very poor."
Brown painted portraits of many street children. To a reporter he
described them as follows, "My boys lived in the open. There wasn't a danger of the
streets that they didn't face some time or other during the day. They would chance, any
time, of being run down by a wagon or street car for the sake of selling a paper or
selling a 'shine'... they were, alert, strong, healthy little chaps."
There certainly were dangers to the street life for the
children of that era. In 1926 on May day, New York City commemorated "No
Accident Day," which saw the unveiling of two monuments. The attending crowd
solemnly honored the memory of 7,000 boys and girls killed in traffic accidents the
previous year. |
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