Catalogue Entry

[Artists' Fund Society, New York, December 21, 1863, Derby Art Institution, no. 52 (as Village Blacksmith)]

John Pierpont Morgan, Sr., New York, by 1864

James Wallace Pinchot, by 1867 until at least 1885

H. S. Morgan, by March 1943

[M. Knoedler & Co., New York, by March 1943]

Stephen Carlton Clark, Sr., Cooperstown, New York, March 1943 until January 21, 1946 (by purchase)

Otsego County Historical Society, Inc., Cooperstown, New York, January 21, 1946, until 1955 (by gift)

Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York (originally New York State Historical Association, until renaming of NYSHA property Fenimore House to Fenimore Art Museum in 1999 and dissolution of NYSHA in 2017), 1955 (by gift)

Artists' Fund Society, Derby Art Institution, New York, December 21, 1863, no. 52, as Village Blacksmith, likely owner Eastman Johnson.

Palmer's Sculpture, Albany, New York, February 22, 1864, no. 101, [possibly, as The Blacksmith], owner P. Morgan.

Yale School of Fine Arts, New Haven, Connecticut, 1867, no. 197, as Village Blacksmith, owner J. W. Pinchot.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Loan Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, November 1885–April 1886, no. 87, as Village Blacksmith, owner James W. Pinchot.

Tribune, November 13, 1863, “Mr. Eastman Johnson has two excellent pictures, Nos. 114 and 52. The former is a nice little girl in a red dress, painted as Mr. Johnson knows how to paint. The picture is remarkable for the introduction of a common parlor stove, without offence to the eye. Few artists would have courage to employ so ungraceful an accessory, and few would have conquered it so successfully. No. 52 is a blacksmith-shop, with a group of children huddling over the fire of the forge," referring to Derby Art Institution exhibition, 1863.

The Evening Post (New York), December 1863, "Eastman Johnson’s Village Blacksmith is one of the most desirable pictures in the collection, both on account of the interest to be found in its subject and its artistic treatment. It is evidently a study from life, and though not solely characteristic of American scenes, it represents that which every one who has dwelt in a country village will remember to have witnessed—a bevy of children clustering around a blacksmith’s forge on an October day; and the smith—himself a hale, hearty old man—looks gravely on and enjoys their guileless society. There is much character displayed in the various figures forming the picture, from the blacksmith leaning on the handle of his bellows, down to the sturdy little chap in frock and trowsers who stands back to, just lifting from the floor the sledge hammer, which is almost as tall as himself," referring to Derby Art Institution exhibition, 1863.

Eastman Johnson letter to E. D. Palmer, January 4, 1864. Albany Institute of History & Art Library, Eastman Johnson artist file, "I thot. of trying to get the Blacksmith I had in the Fund, altho. I am not acquainted with the purchaser. But I want to paint on it several days first…"

"Obituary Notes." The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 3, 1879, p. 4.

Chandler, George. The Chandler Family: The Descendants of William and Annis Chandler who settled in Roxbury, Mass, 1637. Worcester, MA: Press of Charles Hamilton, 1883, pp. 986-87, "This picture is bought at auction, $1,150."

Exhibition of Eastman Johnson. New York: John Levy Galleries, 1942. Exhibition catalogue (1942 John Levy Galleries), n.p. (3), no. 22, as The Blacksmith Shop.

Douglass, Julie M. "Lifetime Exhibition History." In Eastman Johnson: Painting America, by Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue, p. 260, as Village Blacksmith.