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
Hills, 2021:The brushwork of the sitter's left hand is not typical of Johnson's work.
MacGibeny, 2021: This sitter, Thomas Hamlin Hubbard (1838–1915), a Civil War Union general, lawyer, and railroad executive, purchased numerous paintings from the 1907 sale of Johnson's estate conducted by the American Art Association and perhaps directly from Mrs. Johnson. Johnson also portrayed (when she was a child) Helen Fahnestock (1872–1955), who would later marry General Hubbard's son John.
General Thomas Hamlin Hubbard (1838–1915). General and lawyer who fought in the Union Army during the Civil War. Became youngest officer of that rank in Maine at age twenty-six. Served as president of several railroad companies. Son of Dr. John Hubbard, Jr., Governor of Maine. Married to Sibyl Fahnestock Hubbard; father of three children.
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