Catalogue Entry
When Johnson returned to the United States, he not only painted genre paintings but he also continued to paint portraits, which gave him a steady income. After 1880 Johnson turned to portraiture almost exclusively. During the 1880s and 1890s he painted businessmen, lawyers, university presidents, and three U.S. presidents from life. At times he also painted their wives and children.
He was also commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, often from photographs. These portraits by and large do not have the sparkle and active brushwork of those done from life. It seems that the demand for portraits of business and civic leaders (and members of exclusive men’s clubs) was so high that portrait painters would often make copies of each other’s paintings to satisfy the market for such images. In many instances, it has been difficult to render opinions for such paintings. —PH
MacGibeny, 2021: The date of this painting is based on a letter in the Burton Collection at the Detroit Public Library, dated July 15, 1895, from A. H. Griffith of the Detroit Museum of Art to Senator Palmer requesting a loan of the portrait. A note in the corner of the letter indicates that Palmer replied the following day that he would consider the loan when he was feeling better. Less than a year later, the painting was severely damaged in a fire at Palmer's mansion. As reported by Ms. Emma Stark Hampton in the Detroit News-Tribune, May 31, 1896 (transcribed by Gregory Piazza, author of A History of Detroit's Palmer Park, 2015): "The senator's $5,000 portrait, painted by Eastman Johnson, was irreparably injured."
Detroit Historical Society object record, September 3, 2013: "Subject depicted full-length, with right hand in coat front, in setting with patterned rug on floor, two chairs (one with shawl over it), and sideboard with lamp and flowers. Large ornate gold frame."
Thomas Witherell Palmer (1830–1913). U.S. Senator from Michigan, 1883–1889.
- Portrait pose: