Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager
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Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Frame
Frame
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Detail
Detail
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Detail
Detail
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Detail
Detail
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Detail
Detail
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Inscription
Inscription
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Verso
Verso
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Verso label
Verso label
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Verso markings
Verso markings
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173). Overall
Overall
Photo: Farnsworth Art Museum
31.1 U.S. Portraits, Men

When Johnson returned to the United States, he not only painted genre paintings but he also continued to paint portraits, which gave him a steady income. After 1880 Johnson turned to portraiture almost exclusively. During the 1880s and 1890s he painted businessmen, lawyers, university presidents, and three U.S. presidents from life. At times he also painted their wives and children.

He was also commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, often from photographs. These portraits by and large do not have the sparkle and active brushwork of those done from life. It seems that the demand for portraits of business and civic leaders (and members of exclusive men’s clubs) was so high that portrait painters would often make copies of each other’s paintings to satisfy the market for such images. In many instances, it has been difficult to render opinions for such paintings. —PH

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Hills no. 31.1.173
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn
Alternate titles: possibly John V. S. Lansing Pruyn; Portrait of Councillor Pruyn; Portrait of John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, Chancellor of the University of the State of New York
c.1883
Oil on board
22 1/4 x 14 5/16 in. (56.5 x 36.4 cm)
Initialed lower left: E.J.
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Record last updated August 2, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.173)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1629 (accessed on March 29, 2024).