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
Hills, 2021: The prie-dieu (prayer bench) was a piece of furniture Johnson brought back from Europe in 1855.
New York Evening Post, February 16, 1865: In addition to [Young Lad Skating, Johnson] has nearly finished a very charming picture of a young girl kneeling before an elaborately carved prie-Dieu, engaged in prayer; above her hangs one of those old romantic pieces of tapestry work, representing our Savior bearing the cross; at her left is her sleeping couch with high, carved headboard. The feeling of devotion in the maiden's face is nicely expressed, and the entire picture happily conveys the sense of purity and peace."
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