loading loading
Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager

Catalogue Entry

enlarge
Photo: Unknown
31.1 U.S. Portraits, Men

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

View all works in this theme »

Hills no. 31.1.226
James G. Wilson
Alternate title: Portrait of James G. Wilson
1876, December 1
Oil on board
21 1/4 x 26 3/8 in. (54 x 67 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson/Dec. 1, 1876
Description / Remarks

Hills, 2021: James G. Wilson was the second husband of Johnson's sister Judith (born July 14, 1821). They married in 1851, and their son Philip J. Wilson was born in 1854.

Provenance
By descent in the family of the sitter, husband of Judith Farmum Johnson, sister of the artist
[Christie's, May 25, 2006, Important American Paintings Sale, lot 78]
Michael Altman Fine Art, New York, by June 2007
Hunt and Donna Bonan, Mount Vernon, Illinois, June 2007 (by purchase)
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 2006-04-18
Hills opinion letter: May 13, 2006 view »
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Wilson, James G.
Biography:

James G. Wilson. Husband of Johnson’s older sister, Judith Farnum Johnson (m. 1851). Along with other members of the Johnson family, speculated on land in the Superior, Wisconsin area in the 1850s. Later likely was involved in sewing machine manufacturing.

Keywords
Record last updated August 28, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "James G. Wilson, 1876, December 1 (Hills no. 31.1.226)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?SystemID=669 (accessed on March 29, 2024).