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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 Figge Art Museum
[ 21.1 Girls Indoors ]info
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21.1 Girls Indoors

Johnson’s daughter, Ethel, was born in May 1870, and it is not surprising that Johnson would use her (but not exclusively) as a model for the many pictures of young girls in interiors—playing with dolls, warming their hands by a stove, reading, sleeping. Such pictures often include the same furniture, such as the prie dieu (church prayer bench or kneeler) seen in Family Cares and The Tea Party. Because they were genre paintings, not portraits, Johnson freely renders the facial features. Thus, it is not surprising that for paintings done circa 1873, the bodily types of the girls look like three-year-olds; whereas those done circa 1878, look more like eight-years-olds. —PH

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Hills no. 21.1.28
In Gentle Slumber
Alternate title: likely Youthful Sleep
1878
Oil on board
9 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. (24.8 x 29.8 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson/-78
Figge Art Museum, City of Davenport Art Collection, Gift of C.T. Lindley (1929.551)
Description / Remarks

American Art Association sale catalogues, 1916, 1919, and 1922: "A child with long curling locks is lying asleep in her small bed, her head deeply cushioned among ample pillows."

Provenance
Likely Mr. E. Hamilton, M.D., by 1879
Mrs. T. Gaillard Thomas, until 1916
[American Art Association, New York, March 29–31, 1916, Over Three Hundred Old and Modern Paintings by Foreign and American Artists, no. 132, Property of the Estate of Mrs. T. Gaillard Thomas, (as In Gentle Slumber)]
W. T. [?] Baird, March 29, 1916 (by purchase)
[American Art Association, New York, November 12, 1919, Oil Paintings by American and Foreign Artists, no. 11, Property of a Private Collector (as In Gentle Slumber)]
R. Glendenning, November 12, 1919 (by purchase)
[American Art Association, New York, April 27, 1922, A Large Collection of Foreign and American Paintings, no. 13 (as In Gentle Slumber)]
Albert du Vannes, New York, until 1925 (by purchase)
Dr. Clarence T. Lindley, 1925, until 1929 (by purchase)
Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa, 1929 (by gift)
Exhibitions
1879 Yorkshire Fine Art & Industrial Exhibition
Yorkshire Fine Art & Industrial Exhibition, York, United Kingdom, 1879, no. 1179, [possibly, as Youthful Sleep, owner Mr. E. Hamilton, M.D, £36 15s.]
1883 Detroit Art Loan
Detroit Art Loan, Detroit, 1883. (Detroit Art Loan 1883), no. 380, [possibly, as The Sleeping Child], For sale.
1974 Muscatine Art Center
Muscatine Art Center, Muscatine, Iowa, [On loan], 1974.
References
Johnson & Tesseyman 1879
Catalogue of the Manufactures, Machinery, Antiquities, and Other General Exhibits Not Included in the Fine Art Department. York, UK: Johnson & Tesseyman, 1879, p. 56, no. 1179 [possibly, as Youthful Sleep].
Detroit Art Loan 1883
Catalogue of Art Works Exhibited. Detroit, MI: Detroit Art Loan, 1883. Exhibition catalogue (1883 Detroit Art Loan), p. 39, no. 380 [possibly, as The Sleeping Child].
AAA 1916a
Catalogue of Over Three Hundred Old and Modern Paintings by Foreign and American Artists Belonging to the Estate of the Late Senhor Salvador de Mendonça (Formerly Brazilian Minister of Washington) [and Others]. New York: American Art Association, March 1916. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 132, as In Gentle Slumber, Property of Mrs. T. Gaillard Thomas.
AAA 1919c
Catalogue of Oil Paintings by American and Foreign Artists. New York: American Art Association, November 1919. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 11, as In Gentle Slumber, From the Mrs. T. Gaillard Thomas Collection, New York, 1916. Property of a Private Collector.
AAA 1922b
A Large Collection of Oil Paintings by Foreign and American Artists. New York: American Art Association, April 1922. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 13, as In Gentle Slumber, From the Mrs. T. Gaillard Thomas Collection, New York, 1916. Property of a Private Collector.
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Record last updated July 19, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "In Gentle Slumber, 1878 (Hills no. 21.1.28)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1238 (accessed on April 20, 2024).