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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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© 2013 Christie’s Images Limited
⊠
18.0 Mother and Child
The mother and child theme in art not only has references to Christian art but also to the realities of caregiving by women. Johnson seems to have been particularly drawn to the theme as the result of his wife’s caring for their daughter, Ethel. —PH
Hills no. 18.0.2
Mother and Child
c.1864
Oil on panel
15 1/2 x 13 in. (39.4 x 33 cm)
Signed lower right: E. Johnson
Description / Remarks
Hills opinion letter, 2013: "The painting shows an African American woman looking down at a sleeping toddler sitting in her lap in a darkened rustic interior. At the right is a door slightly ajar through which light enters the room illuminating the bricks at the edge of the door frame, the woman and child, a wooden box, and the background. Her feet are propped on the wooden box to better cradle the toddler."
Provenance
Spanierman Gallery, New York
Westervelt Company, 1985 (by purchase)
[Christie's, September 25, 2013, Property from the Westervelt Company, lot 193 (as Mother and Child)]
Present whereabouts unknown
Exhibitions
1997 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, American Dreams: Paintings and Decorative Arts from the Warner Collection, September 20, 1997–January 25, 1998.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 2013-08-05
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Record last updated July 26, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Mother and Child, c.1864 (Hills no. 18.0.2)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1118 (accessed on May 5, 2024).