Catalogue Entry
When Johnson returned to the United States, he not only painted genre paintings but he also continued to paint portraits, which gave him a steady income. After 1880 Johnson turned to portraiture almost exclusively. During the 1880s and 1890s he painted businessmen, lawyers, university presidents, and three U.S. presidents from life. At times he also painted their wives and children.
He was also commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, often from photographs. These portraits by and large do not have the sparkle and active brushwork of those done from life. It seems that the demand for portraits of business and civic leaders (and members of exclusive men’s clubs) was so high that portrait painters would often make copies of each other’s paintings to satisfy the market for such images. In many instances, it has been difficult to render opinions for such paintings. —PH
Jason (“Jay”) Gould (1836–1892). American railroad magnate and financial speculator; “one of the most turbulent, controversial, and significant business careers in the nineteenth century…Gould made his first fortune with his masterful understanding of finance during the Civil War” before gaining notoriety through opposition to Cornelius Vanderbilt over the Erie Railroad. Revived and made profitable the Union Pacific Railroad, as well as many other ventures. “...Gould’s wide-ranging influence on business, from the financial markets to modern management techniques, helped shape the modern American economy” [National Portrait Gallery website, accessed August 8, 2014].
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
- Portrait pose:
- Posthumous: