Catalogue Entry

No. 49: "The interior of a large village blacksmith’s shop, showing the old smith hammering a small piece of red-hot iron on an anvil, and four little girls in summer dresses perched inside his hooded forge."
"Signed in the middle, E. J.
Height, 15 inches; length, 23 ½ inches."
[Annotation: “42.50 / Cogswell”]

Eastman Johnson estate/Mrs. Eastman Johnson, New York, 1906 (by bequest)

[The artist's estate sale, American Art Association, New York, February 26–27, 1907, no. 49 (as The Blacksmith's Shop)]

William Browne Cogswell, Syracuse, New York, husband of the artist's niece, Mary Naomi Johnson Cogswell (daughter of the artist's brother Reuben), February 26, 1907 (by purchase)

Cora Browning Cogswell, his wife, 1921 (by bequest)

Florence Pearl and Elizabeth C. Browning, Syracuse, New York, her sisters, 1936 (by bequest)

[Plaza Art Galleries, Inc., New York, April 30, 1943, Public Sale No. 2297, From the Estate of the Late Frederic Frazier and Others, no. 63 (as The Blacksmith Shop)]

John Levy Galleries, New York, 1952

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1952 (by purchase)

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

Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, American Paintings from the Collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art, September 7–October 19, 1975. (Mint Museum of Art 1975), no. 22.

Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, Life in 19th Century America: An Exhibition of Genre Painting, September 11–November 15, 1981. (Terra Museum of American Art 1981), no. 51.

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

Catalogue of Finished Pictures, Studies, and Drawings by the Late Eastman Johnson, N.A. New York: American Art Association, February 1907. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 49, as The Blacksmith's Shop.

Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), pp. 46, 63, no. 79, as The Blacksmith Shop.

"Johnson in Homey 19th Century Show." The Art Digest 16 (April 15, 1942), p. 18.

Exhibition of Eastman Johnson. New York: John Levy Galleries, 1942. Exhibition catalogue (1942 John Levy Galleries), n.p. (2), no. 14, as The Blacksmith Shop.

American and European Oil Paintings from the Estate of the Late Frederic Frazier and Others. New York: Plaza Art Galleries, April 30, 1943, p. 23, no. 63, as The Blacksmith Shop.

"What a Million Dollars Buys in Good Paintings." Life 41, no. 24 (December 10, 1956), p. 71 illus.

Valentiner, William R. Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956, no. 22.

Valentiner, William R. "The Raleigh Museum's First 220 Paintings: Notes on the Collection." Art News 55, no. 2 (April 1956), pp. 46–55, 91–92, p. 47 illus.

Catalogue of Paintings. Volume I: American Paintings to 1900. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1966, pp. 58, 99, no. 34, illus.

Stanford, Charles W., Jr. Selections from British and American Painting and Sculpture. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1967, no. 27, illus.

American Paintings from the Collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art. Charlotte, NC: Mint Museum of Art, 1975. Exhibition brochure (1975 Mint Museum of Art), no. 22.

Life in 19th Century America. Evanston, IL: Terra Museum of American Art, 1981. Exhibition catalogue (1981 Terra Museum of American Art), p. 26, no. 51, illus.

Allen, Jo, and Gil Leebrick, eds. Robert Lee Humber: A Collector Creates. Greenville, NC: The College of Arts and Sciences and The School of Art, East Carolina University, 1996. Exhibition catalogue (1996 Wellington B. Gray Gallery, East Carolina University), p. 36, illus.