Catalogue Entry
After Johnson arrived in Düsseldorf in late 1849 his earliest portrait drawings were graphite sketches of his instructors and artist friends. He continued to make drawings when he moved to The Hague in 1851. As he began to receive commissions, Johnson used charcoal and worked much in the style of the late 1840s drawings he had done in the United States. It is likely that he may have done many more sketches, but those that have been located, of his friends and teachers, were ones he selected to bring back to the U.S.; the commissioned portrait drawings of Europeans generally stayed in Europe. —PH
Hills, 2022: The Belmont drawings probably were done in the Netherlands, when August Belmont was Ambassador from the United States. The date would therefore be about 1853 when Johnson did a portrait of their small son, Perry.
August Belmont (1816–1890). Ambassador from the United States in the Netherlands, c. 1853; chairman of the Democratic National Committee, 1860–1872 (succeeded by Augustus Schell, also portrayed by Johnson); founder and namesake of the Belmont Stakes horse race.
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