Biography
A Life Across Two Centuries
Henrietta Alice McCrea was born on August 4, 1888 — the same year her grandfather Amos J. Snell was murdered — into a wealthy Chicago family at 764 West Adams Street. Her father was Wiley Solon McCrea, a public utilities executive and member of the Board of Trade. Her mother was Alice E. Snell, the daughter of A.J. Snell. When Henrietta was just a few months old, her mother filed for divorce, accusing her husband of cruelty, and moved with her daughter to Paris.
Henrietta attended a Catholic convent in Paris and spoke French as her native tongue. When she was ten years old, following her mother’s death, her father brought her back to Chicago. She later attended Mlle. Bouligny’s School in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and returned to Europe in 1906 for further schooling. In Paris she became friends with actress Jane Peyton and her husband Guy Bates Post. By the end of 1910 she was back in Chicago, living at 720 Lincoln Park Boulevard.
In 1911, Henrietta married Willard Leroy Metcalf, a celebrated American Impressionist painter nearly thirty years her senior. They had two children together: Rosalind and Addison. The marriage was turbulent — Metcalf’s drinking, his obsessive painting schedule, and the strains of family life eventually led to divorce. She later married author Marcus Aurelius Goodrich, but that marriage also ended in divorce. She kept the Metcalf name for the rest of her life.
Henrietta was the dramatic editor for Vanity Fair and a translator of French literature into English. Her translation of Alexandre Dumas’ Camille is considered standard and remains available in the Samuel French acting edition. She was a friend of Colette and translated La Dame aux Camélias in 1931 for Eva Le Gallienne’s Civic Repertory Theater. She also translated Anatole France’s Our Lady’s Juggler.
An avid fan of theater and actors, she amassed a large collection of autographed photographs and memorabilia that is now housed at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center. Her circle of friends included Sarah Bernhardt, Helen Hayes, Enrico Caruso, Eva Le Gallienne, Tallulah Bankhead, and Marian Anderson.
Henrietta McCrea Metcalf died on May 27, 1981, at the age of 92. Her son Addison founded The Henrietta Alice Metcalf Memorial Scholarship at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in her honor.
1888
Born in Chicago
1911
Married Willard Metcalf
2
Children: Rosalind & Addison
92
Years lived
Her Husband
Willard Leroy Metcalf
American Impressionist Painter · 1858–1925 · Founding Member, Ten American Painters
About Willard
Willard Leroy Metcalf was born in Massachusetts in 1858. A nature enthusiast and plein-air painter, he was a founding member of the “Ten American Painters” — the group that defined American Impressionism. He was known for his luminous New England landscapes and his mastery of light on snow.
The Marriage
Metcalf pursued Henrietta aggressively. She remained noncommittal. He finally sent a telegram demanding she “make up her mind at once.” She decided to marry him. They wed in Chicago in 1911. He was 53. She was 22. Before leaving on their honeymoon, he reportedly told his brother he had made the biggest mistake of his life.
His Last Letter
“It’s a long journey this painting game — and such a hard and continued effort demanded — if one has an ideal, such as I have, and the desire for perfection!”
— Willard Metcalf, letter to Rosalind, February 5, 1925. He died March 9, 1925.
Selected Works by Willard Leroy Metcalf
Paintings by Willard Leroy Metcalf — public domain works via Wikimedia Commons. Learn more about Willard Metcalf ↗
Photographs & Portraits
Henrietta & Her Family in Images
Oil Portrait by Willard Metcalf
Portrait of Henriette, c. 1913
Oil portrait by Willard Leroy Metcalf. Signed “C. Henriette” upper left, dated 1913 lower left. Painted two years after their marriage.
Henrietta in Later Life
Photographed outside what may be her son Addison’s antique shop “At the Sign of the Fleur de Lys” in Newtown, Connecticut.
The Metcalf Family
A family group photograph. Henrietta, Willard, and their children Rosalind and Addison.
Willard Leroy Metcalf
Portrait photograph of Willard Metcalf (1858–1925), American Impressionist painter and founding member of the Ten American Painters.
Painting by Willard Metcalf
Rosalind Metcalf
Portrait of Rosalind, daughter of Willard and Henrietta Metcalf. Willard painted his daughter multiple times — she appears in several of his most tender domestic works.
Helen Ware, Josephine Victor, and Henrietta Metcalf — 1923.
University of Kentucky Performing Arts Collection.
Hidden History
Thelma Wood, Djuna Barnes,
and Nightwood
From 1928 to 1943, Henrietta was the partner of sculptor Thelma Wood — who had left the writer Djuna Barnes to be with her. Barnes immortalized the affair in Nightwood (1936), one of the great modernist novels. Scholars still debate which character is Henrietta: the devoted Nora Flood, or the woman who takes Robin away.
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