Catalogue Entry

[Art Exhibition at the Metropolitan Fair in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, New York, April 19 or 20, 1864 [possibly, no. 213 (as The Young Sweep)]; given by the artist to the Fair; sold]

Possibly Joseph H. Harrison, Esq., by 1867 (as Chimney-sweep)

Possibly Silas C. Evans, by 1877

[Possibly Samuel P. Avery, New York, March 14–15, 1877, Association Hall (Y.M.C.A.), The Private Collection of Fine Oil Paintings, &c. by American and Foreign Artists, the Property of Mr. Silas C. Evans, no. 51 (as The Young Sweep), sold to J. A. Harper]

Possibly J. Abner Harper, March 14, 1877 (by purchase)

[Possibly George A. Leavitt & Co., New York, March 12–13, 1880, Chickering Hall, Mr. J. Abner Harper's Collection of Paintings, lot 92 (as The Sweep), sold to A. Myers]

Possibly A. Myers, March 13, 1880 (by purchase)

Private collection, by September 2017 (by descent)

[Clars Auction Gallery, September 17, 2017, September Furniture, Fine Art, Jewelry, Asian Art Sale, lot 7097 (as A Young Chimney Sweep)]

Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 2018 (by gift)

U.S. Sanitary Commission, New York, Art Exhibition at the Metropolitan Fair in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, April 4–23, 1864. (Exhibition catalogue: U.S. Sanitary Commission 1864), no. 213, [possibly, as The Young Sweep].

National Academy of Design, New York, Loan Exhibition in Aid of the Society of Decorative Art, 1877–78. (Exhibition catalogue: NAD 1877d), no. 175, [possibly, as The Sweep, lent by Mr. J. Abner Harper].

National Academy of Design, New York, The Private Collection of Fine Oil Paintings, &c. by American and Foreign Artists, the Property of Mr. Silas C. Evans, March 7–14, 1877. (Exhibition catalogue: NAD 1877a), no. 51, [possibly, as The Young Sweep].

Catalogue of the Art Exhibition at the Metropolitan Fair, in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. New York: U.S. Sanitary Commission, 1864. Exhibition catalogue (1864b U.S. Sanitary Commission), p. 14, no. 213 [possibly, as The Young Sweep].

A Record of the Metropolitan Fair in Aid of the United States Sanitary Commission, Held at New York, in April, 1864; With Photographs. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1867, p. 190 [possibly, as The Young Sweep].

Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the American Artists: American Artist Life. New York: G. P. Putnam & Son, 1867, p. 630 [possibly, as Chimney-sweep, owner J. Harrison, Esq.]

Catalogue of the Private Collection of Fine Oil Paintings—By American and Foreign Artists, the Property of Mr. Silas C. Evans. New York: Samuel P. Avery, March 14–15, 1877. Sale catalogue, p. 11, no. 51 [possibly, as The Young Sweep].

Catalogue of Mr. Silas C. Evans' Private Collection of Paintings. New York: National Academy of Design, March 1877. Exhibition catalogue (1877a NAD), p. 15, no. 175 [possibly, as The Sweep, lent by Mr. J. Abner Harper].

"Review of J. Abner Harper Sale." Harper’s Monthly 60 (May 1880), p. 938 [possibly]: "This piquant and interesting collection had no picture more attractive as a piece of pure sentiment than a negro boy—a sweep—by Eastman Johnson. The innocence, the characteristic beauty, the unconscious pathos, arrested the eye and mind first, and then the excellence of the execution. Finish without “niggling,” breadth, firmness, purity of tone, depth of color, an effortless and harmonious blending as in a beautiful melody—these were all obvious, and through them all shown the human tenderness which makes the whole world kin. It was not a conceit, it was a picture."

Catalogue of Paintings in Oil and Water Colors, the Private Collection of Mr. J. Abner Harper. New York: Leavitt Art Galleries, March 12–13, 1880. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 92 [possibly, as The Sweep].

"American Art Chronicle." The American Art Review 1, no. 6 (April 1880), pp. 269 [possibly, as The Sweep].

MacGibeny, Abigael. "Eastman Johnson, 'America’s Rembrandt,' Was Nurtured by His Experience in Europe." the low countries (Belgium and The Netherlands), November 16, 2021, illus., as The Young Sweep.