Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné

Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, Project Manager and Co-Author

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc.

Likeness of Brother Elias Büsken
Dorsten Lexicon
http://www.dorsten-lexikon.de/maler-und-modell-ii/

[ 44.1 Euro Portrait Drawings, Men ]

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44.1 Euro Portrait Drawings, Men

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

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Hills no. 44.1.6

Baur no. 308

Elias Büsken

Alternate titles: Brother Elius; Bruder Elius

1850, June

Locale: Düsseldorf, Germany

Pencil on brown paper

10 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. (27.3 x 21 cm)

Dated and inscribed lower right: Bruder Elius - /Düsseldorf June, 1850.

Mr. and Mrs. Stuart P. Feld, New York

Description/Remarks

MacGibeny, 2022: German painter Elias Büsken studied at the Düsseldorf Academy where Johnson had traveled to learn to paint, 1849–1851. Johnson sketched several other students and teachers of the Academy as well, including Andreas Achenbach, Ludwig Knaus, Otto Knille, Heinrich Mücke, and Worthington Whittredge.

Provenance

By descent in the family of the artist

Baroness Muriel van Reigersberg Versluys, granddaughter of the artist, by 1940

Baron M. L. van Reigersberg Versluys, London, her son, until 1977 (by descent)

[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1977–1980]

Mr. and Mrs. Stuart P. Feld, New York, December 1980 (by purchase)

Exhibitions

1979b Hirschl & Adler

Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, American Drawings and Watercolors, October 6–29, 1979, no. 65b.

References

Baur 1940

Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), p. 74, no. 308, as Brother Elius.

Berg 1991

Berg, Dieter. Vita seraphica: Titelregister von Beiträgen zur Geschichte des Franziskanerordens und der sächsischen Franziskanerprovinz vom Heiligen Kreuz [Title register of contributions to the history of the Franciscan Order and the Saxon Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross]. Werl: Dietrich-Coelde-Verl., 1991.

Sitter Biography

Sitter: Elius, Bruder (Elias Büsken)

Biography:

Bruder (Brother) Elius (1816–1889). A Franciscan monk who painted at the Düsseldorf Academy in the early 1850s. Known for portraying the mayor of Dorsten and painting the walls of churches.

Keywords

Portrait pose:
- Half length »
- Portrait »
- Profile »
- Seated »
Occupations:

Record last updated August 25, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.

Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Elias Büsken, 1850, June (Hills no. 44.1.6)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1003 (accessed on May 1, 2025).