George Burroughs Torrey

George Burroughs Torrey
Born	1863 New York City
Died	1942 (aged 78–79)
Nationality	American
Known for	painting, drawing
Notable work	Portraits of American presidents
Patron(s)	American presidents, Greek royalty, society of New York

George Burroughs Torrey (1863–1942) was an American painter, best known for his portraits. He has been called the "painter of presidents", because he painted portraits of Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Herbert Hoover.

He was born in the old Astor House in New York City. His parents were Joseph and Harriet Louise Burroughs.

He had his first studio at 543 Fifth Avenue, where he drew and painted portraits. He moved to Paris, and had a studio there by 1893, just two doors from the Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy, on the Boulevard Malesherbes, and began his studies with Léon Bonnat, Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Alfred Philippe Roll. Roll used to come into his studio twice a week to criticise his work. In 1895, he exhibited his first salon portrait. He was particularly impressed with and influenced by the work of the portrait painter Carolus-Duran and the mural painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

Torrey returned to New York in the spring of 1897, still retaining his Paris studio, where he spent six months of each year until 1906, He gave an exhibition at the Waldorf-Astoria and in the fall of 1897, he started leasing a studio at 543 Fifth Avenue.

In the summer of 1902, he painted his first portrait of King George I of Greece at Aix-les-Bains, which now hangs in the palace at Athens. Two years later, he painted another portrait of George I of Greece, who presented it to his sister, Queen Alexandra of England. This portrait hung in the queen's private apartments at Buckingham Palace. When the second portrait was completed, the King gave a dinner in honor of Torrey at Aix-les-Bains and awarded him the Order of the Savior, and at the same time expressed his wish that Torrey go to Athens and paint a portrait of Queen Olga.

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