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
MacGibeny, 2022: Painter Heinrich Karl Anton Mücke was one of the instructors at the Düsseldorf Academy where Johnson had traveled to learn to paint, 1849–1851. Johnson sketched several other teachers and students of the Academy as well, including Andreas Achenbach, Elias Büsken, Ludwig Knaus, Otto Knille, and Worthington Whittredge.
Document: The Art-Journal, vol. 3, 1851 article clipping describing Professor Mücke's art instruction practice in Düsseldorf.Click image to view.
Professor Heinrich Karl Anton Mücke (1806–1891). Painter of architectural and theological themes; instructor in Düsseldorf. Taught painting at the Düsseldorf Academy, 1848–1867.
- Portrait pose:
- Occupations: