The earliest recorded portrait drawing of a known individual by Johnson is Henry Sewell, done in Augusta, Maine, and dated November 26, 1844. Already in 1844, when Johnson was twenty, this work shows the artist's superb use of charcoal (black chalk) to highlight the lights and shadow that capture the three-dimensionality of his sitter. This talent may have been initiated from the time he worked in a lithography shop in Boston, and also the availability of mezzotints.
The Sewell portrait also shows Johnson’s understanding of anatomy in the sitter’s facial structure. During this period, 1844–1949, Johnson almost always used charcoal (black chalk) for his portraits. Some are half-length portraits including hands, but the majority are heads (and necks) alone. 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
MacGibeny, 2022: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow commissioned Johnson to draw portraits of himself, his family, and his friends, including Cornelius Felton (who later became president of Harvard College), after being impressed by Johnson's portraits of his parents, Stephen and Zilpah Longfellow. In his journal entry of January 16, 1846, he wrote, "Went to Portland where I found all pretty well. A young artist of Maine, Mr. Johnson, has taken my father and mother, in every way is excellently made.” On October 22 he wrote, "Johnson’s sketch [sic] of [Longfellow's sisters] Anne and Mary are quite charming. I am delighted with them. He is to take for me all the club. The mutual Admiration Society which I shall hang in the Hall to show people what a fine set of heads they are." Johnson was only about twenty-two years old when he made this drawing. These Longfellow commissions in the late 1840s helped to build Johnson's reputation as a young artist in America before he went to Europe in 1849 to learn to paint.
Longfellow House catalogue record, July 9, 2014: "Oval portrait, bust-length, facing proper right. Black hair, eyes, neck scarf and coat; white collar. Shadowing and highlights in brown, black, and white chalk."
Cornelius Conway Felton (1807–1862). Twentieth president of Harvard College (1860–1862) and scholar of the classics. Son of Cornelius Conway and Anna (Morse) Felton. Married Mary Whitney (m. 1838), then Mary Louisa Cary (m. 1846); father of five children.
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
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