Johnson’s wife, Elizabeth, no doubt turned his attention to representations of women alone—either in interiors or outside. Such women are often lost in thought and suggest sentient beings with an inner life. In my interviews with descendants of Johnson’s siblings, she is presented as an independent woman. Johnson painted her portrait in which she assumes the posture of a woman who thinks on her own (also see theme 31.3). —PH
Hills opinion letter, 2013: "This oil sketch shows a standing woman looking down at what appears to be a pink flower that she holds in her hand. The background is sketchy but there appears to be a framed painting above her head and a long vertical swath of light at the left, perhaps representing the light of a window, which illuminates the left side of her hair, face, arm, and dress. Her dress is a sienna brown with dark brown shadows and grey-brown highlights. She stands on a red and green patterned carpet."
