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: A copy of this Johnson portrait, made by Thomas Waterman Wood in 1890, shows John Caswell (1797–1881) at an age too young for Johnson to have portrayed him at the time. It is likely that Johnson's portrait was made posthumously from a much earlier photograph of Caswell.
John Caswell (1797–1871). Businessman engaged in the China trade.
Catalogue of Portraits in the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York. New York: New York Chamber of Commerce, 1924.
- Portrait pose:
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See all Period Portrait Copies by Other Artists after Johnson.