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Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
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Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
Verso
Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
Verso inscription
Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
Verso inscription
Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
Verso label
Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
⊠31.1 U.S. Portraits, Men
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
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Hills no. 31.1.146
Baur no. 233
Stephen Payne Nash
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy title: Portrait of Eugene Nash [incorrect]
Alternate titles: possibly Stephen P. Nash; P. Eugene Nash [incorrect]; Portrait Head of Eugene Nash [incorrect]; Portrait of P. Eugene Nash [incorrect]; Portrait of Stephen P. Nash
c.1880–82
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 in. (55.9 x 45.7 cm)
Initialed verso in brown: E. J. [according to Baur 1940 and undated Addison Gallery information sheet; no inscriptions visible on recto or verso of canvas during AM examination, 2014]
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Markings
Verso, upper left, on paper tape, in pencil: Eastman Johnson/Port Eugene Nash/Esq.; verso, upper right, on paper tape, in ink: Stephen [P?] Nash, Es/by E.J. Pres. Bar Ass[tape torn]; verso, bottom, on paper tape, in white chalk: 1274
Labels
Verso, label on stretcher bar: ADDISON GALLERY/PHILLIPS ACADEMY/unacc./Portrait Head of Eugene/P. Nash by Eastman Johnson/Gift of Mrs. Robert/Barker, New Canaan, Conn./ 6/2/60
Exhibitions
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, The Works, November 7, 1969–February 22, 1970.
References
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York:
Kennedy Galleries,
1920.
Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 11, addendum "Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as
Stephen P. Nash]
.
The Albert Rosenthal Art Collection and Furnishings. Philadelphia:
Samuel T. Freeman and Co.,
September 13–16, 1939.
Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 1274, as
Portrait of P. Eugene Nash [incorrect].
Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY:
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences,
1940.
Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), p. 70, no. 233, as
P. Eugene Nash [incorrect].
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Nash, Stephen Payne
Biography: Stephen P. Nash (1821–1898). Lawyer. Founding member of the New York Bar Association and president of the Association, 1880–1881; Counsel Trinity Church Vestry, 1870–1898. Descendant of Thomas Nash’s Colonial Family originally from Lancaster, or Lancashire, who settled Qunnipiac, or New Haven, in 1638 [Prominent Families of New York, eBook, p. 424].
Record last updated September 23, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Stephen Payne Nash, c.1880–82 (Hills no. 31.1.146)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1274 (accessed on April 26, 2024).
