Charles Deering - Early Life

Early Life

Deering was born July 31, 1852, in South Paris, Maine, the son of Abby Reed Barbour and William Deering. His father was a successful businessman then engaged real estate speculation and in the manufacture and sale of woolens. In 1856, Charles's mother died, and, the following year, his father married Clara Barbour Cummings Hamilton, a cousin of his late wife. The two children of this marriage were James Deering (1859–1925) and Abby Marion Deering (later Mrs Richard Flint Howe). Charles remained close to his half-brother and sister throughout his life.

Charles attended Kents Hill School, graduating in June 1869. At first, he set his sights on a career in the Navy. Obtaining a midshipman's warrant, he entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he graduated second in the class of 1873. He served as a naval officer until 1881, when he resigned in order to join his father's company. Naval service shaped Deering by exposing him to the cultures of Europe and Asia. He supplemented these experiences with extensive personal travel, developing cosmopolitan tastes, a cosmopolitan outlook, and a particular affinity with the arts of Spain. While still in the Navy, Charles met and married Ana Rogers Case, the daughter of Rear Admiral Augustus Ludlow Case; the couple were wed in 1875 in Newport, Rhode Island. Ana Deering died October 31, 1876, shortly after giving birth to a son, Charles Case Deering (1876–1924).

Deering was a gifted amateur artist, and while still in the Navy he used his free time to become acquainted with leading artists and to visit the world's great art galleries. He began a lifelong habit of collecting art, both by acknowledged masters and contemporaries. In 1876, he met the painter John Singer Sargent, who became a close friend. Other artist-friends included sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens, the Swedish artist Anders Zorn, and Catalan artist Ramon Casas i Carbo. In 1893, Deering took time off from his other duties to study painting in Paris under Zorn for an entire season. Throughout his life, Deering enthusiastically supported and championed the work of many living artists while also avidly purchasing hundreds of older, more obscure works along with many acknowledged masterpieces.