Catalogue Entry
When Johnson returned from Europe late in 1855 and moved in with his family in Washington, D.C., he began receiving portrait commissions. On his trip to Superior, Michigan, in 1856 and 1857, he did charcoal portrait drawings of family and friends. Like the commissioned drawings done earlier, Johnson generally used charcoal (named in some records as black chalk) with touches of white, but the strong chiaroscuro is less evident for his women sitters. Many of these portraits are in pastel, which creates a softer visage. In his later professional years as a painter of oil portraits there are few portraits of women. His art commanded high prices; perhaps families were then reluctant to include their women members as portrait sitters. —PH
MacGibeny, 2022: This portrait was a gift to the Maryland Historical Society from Anna Meredith Harris (Mrs. Charles E.) Barrett-Lennard, the sister of the sitter, in 1935. Mrs. Barrett-Lennard did not disclose which of her sisters was portrayed; based on their dates of birth, the sitter could be any of four who were alive in 1859, the likely date of the drawing. They were Ozella Louisa (1828–at least 1930), Zairah Cazida (1830–at least 1878), Eliza Lucinda (1839–at least 1878), and Helen Maria (1842–at least 1878). Another sister, Mary Caroline, had died too young (1832–1837).
Miss Harris (life dates unknown). Daughter of Dr. Chapin A. Harris of Baltimore, pioneer of formal dentistry. This Miss Harris could be one of four daughters of Dr. Harris (of the original six) living in 1859, the likely year she was portrayed by Johnson. The four were Ozella Louisa (b. 1828), Zairah Cazida (b. 1830), Eliza Lucinda (b. 1839), and Helen Maria (b. 1842).
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