BRUSH WITH GREATNESS

He may have left his heart in San Francisco, but it’s a safe bet Tony Bennett didn’t leave his art supplies there.

For over five decades, Tony Bennett has entertained audiences with his velvet-voiced renditions of classics such as “The Good Life,” “Rags to Riches,” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” And at 81, he’s just as comfortable singing a duet with Christina Aguilera as he was with the late Frank Sinatra.

But while Bennett has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide and taken home 13 Grammys and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, singing isn’t his only passion. The Queens-born crooner is also a visual artist who paints under his given name, Anthony Benedetto. And he’s serious about it: He carries a sketchpad and watercolors with him whenever he travels so he won’t miss a day at the easel. “The more I paint, the more persistent I am about painting,” he admits. “I just keep learning all the time.”

Bennett has never felt the need to choose between art forms. In fact, he credits Duke Ellington with suggesting that he sing and paint to keep from tiring of either. “The minute I feel burned out from singing, I paint,” he admits. “When someone says, ‘You’ve got to take a break and go on vacation,’ I say, ‘I’m on vacation. I’m doing the two things that I love.’ ”

A dedicated museum-goer (he describes himself as a “museum freak”), Bennett’s still-rigorous touring schedule gives him the opportunity to check out exhibits at the Louvre, the Hermitage, and other repositories of great art. “It’s really quite an education because I go to museums in every country and see what people are interested in.” But Bennett is equally inspired at home in New York City, where both his apartment and his nearby studio overlook the entrance to Central Park. “I have an intimate view of the people, the cars, and the [horse-drawn] carriages,” he explains. In fact, his oil painting Central Park now hangs in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection in Washington, D.C., alongside American masters such as John Singer Sargent and Whistler. “I’m astounded that they’re nice enough to display it,” he says modestly.

Bennett is still close to his roots in Astoria, where as a child he often sketched with chalk on the sidewalk. Decades later, Bennett sold his first painting to Cary Grant. “I told him I’d give it to him,” he recalls, “and he said, ‘No, I’ll buy it.’ ” Today, his works fetch upwards of $80,000 each; proud owners include Whoopi Goldberg, Katie Couric, and Oprah Winfrey.

With no signs of slowing down, Bennett continues to record his incredible journey in big, bold brushstrokes. “As a painter, what you see is beauty,” he observes. “You realize it’s such a gift to be alive. Life is magnificent.”

— Michele Shapiro