Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager
print this page
« previous // return to Catalogue // next »

Catalogue Entry

enlarge
Photo: Courtesy National Park Service, Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
43.3 U.S. Early Portrait Drawings, Women

Johnson's earliest recorded portrait drawings of women are dated 1845: his portrait of Dolley Madison that indicates the setting and one of his older sister Judith which shows head and neck only. Unlike the portraits of men, his portraits of women are softer in light-dark chiaroscuro and do not exhibit the muscular structure of the face as do those of men. Johnson consolidated his draughtsman’s talents during his sojourn in Boston, where he painted Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his circle. He took about three days to complete a charcoal portrait. The style of the time was to present portraits in oval frames. 

See Technical Information on Johnson's Practices for a discussion of charcoal, black chalk, crayon, and pastel. —PH

View all works in this theme »

Hills no. 43.3.5
Baur no. 315
Mary Longfellow Greenleaf
Alternate title: Mrs. Mary Longfellow Greenleaf
1846, October
Charcoal and chalk on paper
21 x 19 in. (53.3 x 48.3 cm) (oval)
Neither signed nor dated
loading
Record last updated March 30, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Mary Longfellow Greenleaf, 1846, October (Hills no. 43.3.5)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?SystemID=922 (accessed on March 29, 2024).