Catalogue Entry
In 1857 Johnson drew the “Five Sisters”—women who were friends or relatives of each other. Beginning in the 1860s Johnson began to make “conversation groups” in oil, as had been the fashion in England in the 1700s. These scenes were of families relaxed in interiors and engaged in talking with each other, such as the Hatches, Browns, Blatchfords, and Burdens. In a few instances Johnson did charcoal drawings of the whole scene or individual members, but it is not clear if such drawings were done before or after their oil counterparts. —PH
Feld Family Collection catalogue, 2019: "This drawing is accompanied by a key to the identification of each of the four figures that appears to have been prepared by Sheila Florence Irvin Burden (Mrs. Blake) Lawrence, mother of the last member of the family to own it, Adele Lawrence (Mrs. Louis) Auchincloss. The key identifies the child at the left with the balloons as James Abercrombie Burden, Jr. (1871–1932). The gentleman at the center is James Abercrombie Burden (1833–1906) and the woman seated in the right foreground is identified as Mary Proudfit Irvin Burden (1847–1920), the elder James's wife. The child standing on Mrs. Burden’s lap is identified as Williams, brother of James Jr. Mrs. Lawrence also notes that the painting made from the present drawing was then in the possession of 'JAB III' (James A. Burden III), and, further, that the 'lace on dress [is stored] with my wedding veil on [sic] attic.'"
"James Abercrombie Burden (1833–1906) and his brother Isaiah Townsend Burden began their careers at Henry Burden & Sons, an iron-manufacturing business started by their father at Troy, New York. After the death of Henry, James and Isaiah formed the Burden Iron Company, also at Troy, of which James was President. James was married to Mary Proudfit Irvin, by whom he had four sons. Upon James’ death in 1906, he was succeeded as President of Burden Iron Company by his son, James Abercrombie Burden, Jr., who was a graduate of Harvard College and married Florence Adele Sloane of New York in 1895. She was the daughter of William D. Sloane of the furniture company W. & J. Sloane. They lived variously in a Neo-Classical townhouse designed by Warren & Wetmore at 7 East 91st Street, New York, and at Woodside, in Syosset, which was considered one of the most beautiful estates on Long Island.
"Although the key identifies the child on Mrs. Burden’s lap as Williams, the subject was actually Richard Irvin Burden (1872/73–1900), James Burden Jr.'s second of four sons, who would, quite correctly, have been two years old when the drawing was executed, whereas Williams Proudfit Burden (1875/76–1943) was not born until 1875, the year the present drawing was executed, or in 1876. Richard died at the young age of 22 in London, to which he had moved with his tutor several years earlier."
James Abercrombie Burden (1833–?). Ironmaster and inventor. Married to Mary Margaret Proudfit Irvin Burden; father of James Abercrombie, Jr., Richard Irvin, Williams Proudfit, and Arthur Scott.
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