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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
John Carter Chandler and Philip J. Wilson, c.1859–61 (Hills no. 31.7.9). Frame
Frame
Photo: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
John Carter Chandler and Philip J. Wilson, c.1859–61 (Hills no. 31.7.9). Verso
Verso
Photo: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
[ 31.7 U.S. Portraits, Groups ]info
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31.7 U.S. Portraits, Groups

Some of Johnson’s most memorable paintings were his small scale compositions of family groups. Such works as these, traditionally called “conversation pieces,” trace their pedigree to England and seventeenth-century Holland. They were commissioned group portraits of wealthy patrons as they wanted to be seen, usually surrounded by sumptuous furnishing and a coterie of family and friends. —PH

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Hills no. 31.7.9
Baur no. 160
John Carter Chandler and Philip J. Wilson
Alternate titles: Carter Chandler and Philip J. Wilson as a Boy; John C. Chandler and Philip J. Wilson; Portrait of John C. Chandler and Philip J. Wilson; The Papers; The Papers—Portraits
c.1859–61
Locale: Likely Washington, D.C.
Oil on canvas
21 x 17 1/8 in. (53.3 x 43.5 cm)
No inscription currently visible
Private Texas collection
Description / Remarks

Hills opinion letter, 2013: "The painting shows an elderly gentleman, Philip C. Chandler, seated in an armchair reading a newspaper in an interior. His grandson, Philip J. Wilson, perhaps about six years old, stands next to the chair and hugs his arm. The scene is in an interior with sunshine streaming in and illuminating parts of the floor, the chair, the newspaper, the trousers of Chandler and the lower part of young Philip’s jacket."

MacGibeny, 2021: Johnson bequeathed this painting to his sister Eleanor, describing it in his last will and testament, December 22, 1905, as "…my portrait picture with the sunlight on the floor, of my uncle Carter Chandler and my nephew Philip J. Wilson…" Since it was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1861, it may have been signed by Johnson, even if the inscription may not be visible today.

The Albion, April 13, 1861: "But we pause long and lovingly before no. 259, 'The Papers—Portraits,' by Mr. Eastman Johnson, for it is his best here, among several, and in every way worthy of him. A man of middle age sits engrossed with his journal; a lad of seven or so stands by his side, musingly or dreamily as boys will sometimes when immediate occupation is not before them. Was it unintended, this symbolical contrast between the intense absorption of manhood and the careless revery [sic] of youth? We know not; but this is the inner charm of this little picture, though its neat and constant execution and its very clever effect of sunlight might well make it a general favorite.”

Provenance
Eleanor Maria Johnson Sloan, 1906 (by bequest of the artist, her brother)
Likely Judith Farnum Johnson, sister of the artist
Philip Johnson Wilson, her son
Philip J. Wilson, Jr., his son, by 1940
Mrs. Phoebe Hoss, his daughter
[Sotheby's, December 8, 1983, Important 19th and 20th Century American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, lot 81]
Private collection, by March 2013 (by purchase)
[Heritage Auctions, Dallas, May 11, 2013, Fine American Art Signature Auction, lot 64108 (as Portrait of John C. Chandler and Philip J. Wilson)]
Susana Navarro-Valenti, Ph.D., Oak Ridge, Tennessee (by purchase)
[Heritage Auctions, Dallas, July 1, 2020, American Art Signature Auction - Dallas #8007, lot 68152 (as Portrait of John C. Chandler and Philip J. Wilson)]
Private Texas collection, July 1, 2020 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1861 NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, March 20–April 25, 1861. (NAD 1861), no. 259, as The Papers—Portraits, owner Eastman Johnson.
1981 Kennedy Galleries
Kennedy Galleries, New York, A Kennedy Galleries Selection of American Art for Public and Private Collectors, April 14–May 29, 1981. (Kennedy Galleries 1981b), no. 7.
References
The Albion 1861
"Fine Arts." The Albion (New York) 39, no. 15 (April 13, 1861), p. 177: But we pause long and lovingly before no. 259, “The Papers—Portraits,” by Mr. Eastman Johnson, for it is his best here, among several, and in every way worthy of him. A man of middle age sits engrossed with his journal; a lad of seven or so stands by his side, musingly or dreamily as boys will sometimes when immediate occupation is not before them. Was it unintended, this symbolical contrast between the intense absorption of manhood and the careless revery of youth? We know not; but this is the inner charm of this little picture, though its neat and constant execution and its very clever effect of sunlight might well make it a general favorite," as The Papers—Portraits.
The Crayon 1861
"Sketchings: National Academy of Design." The Crayon (New York) 8 (April 1861), p. 94: "Eastman Johnson in The Papers, in the Marseillaise and in The Post Boy shows his powers to great advantage," as The Papers.
Johnson 1905
Johnson, Eastman. Last will and testament. New York, December 22, 1905, "Third: I give and bequeath to my sister, Eleanor Sloan, wife of Samuel G. Sloan, my portrait picture with the sunlight on the floor, of my uncle Carter Chandler and my nephew Philip J. Wilson, also my picture 'Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,' also the sum of Two thousand dollars ($2,000)."
Baur 1938–41a
Baur, John I. H. Notebook #1. 1938–41. John I. H. Baur papers, 1946–1979, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 61, transcription of Johnson's will: "Third, I give and bequeath to my sister, Eleanor Sloan, wife of Samuel G. Sloan, my portrait picture with the sunlight on the floor, of my uncle Carter Chandler and my nephew Philip J. Wilson…"
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. 67, no. 160, as Carter Chandler and Philip J. Wilson as a Boy.
Kennedy Galleries 1981b
A Kennedy Galleries Selection of American Art for Public and Private Collectors. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1981. Exhibition catalogue (1981 Kennedy Galleries), no. 7.
Douglass 1999
Douglass, Julie M. "Lifetime Exhibition History." In Eastman Johnson: Painting America, by Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue, p. 260, as The Papers—Portraits.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 2013-03-22 (Heritage, NY)
Examination notes: Man: Taupe trousers, grey jacket, vest, suggestion of tie. Sits in wood chair with turquoise cushion and back. Boy leans against arm of grandfather. Table on right with bouquet of flowers. Chair on left. UL painting depicted with elaborate frame. Boy's face: light graphite on nostrils and ear, side of face, etc. Sketchy legs; but graphite lines. Sunlight on rug and green flooring and on boy's jacket and left leg of Chandler. Surface - very smooth; slight impasto on hands, newspaper, arm of chair. Nice highlights on knobs of chair, battered shoes. Underpainting often visible in rug. Man's sketchy right hand. Boy is maybe 6 or so. Background scrubbed.
Hills opinion letter: April 2, 2013 view »
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Chandler, John Carter
Biography:

John Carter Chandler (1786–1866). Johnson's uncle; brother of Johnson's mother, Mary Kimball Chandler.

Sitter: Wilson, Philip Johnson, Sr.
Biography:

Philip Johnson Wilson, Sr. (1854–1926). Nephew of Johnson; son of Johnson's sister Judith and her husband James G. Wilson (both of whom were portrayed by Johnson). Graduated from Yale University in 1877; married in 1894.

Chandler, John C.
Keywords
Record last updated December 9, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "John Carter Chandler and Philip J. Wilson, c.1859–61 (Hills no. 31.7.9)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1060 (accessed on May 5, 2024).