Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Debra Force Fine Art
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21.1 Girls Indoors
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 no. 21.1.27
Girl by the Hearth
1878
Oil on board
12 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (32.4 x 19 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson/-78
loading
Markings
Inscribed on verso: upper center: 56 [in circle]; 19 w [in red] 20; lower left: [illegible] 6715
Provenance
By descent through the family to his children, Massachusetts
Exhibitions
Danforth Museum, Framingham, Massachusetts, [On loan], May 2005, anonymous loan.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 2005-05-21
Examination notes: Nice lights on right edge. Turquoise shirt; white apron, red skirt with turquoise. Red stockings. Subject leans against a brick enclosure which is the lower part of a hearth.
Keywords
- Subject matter:
- Stoves »
Record last updated July 19, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Girl by the Hearth, 1878 (Hills no. 21.1.27)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1436 (accessed on April 24, 2024).