Catalogue Entry
The men in these portraits have not yet been identified by name. However, the paintings are known to have been done in Europe based on factors including their inscribed dates and clues to the sitters' identities. Johnson studied and worked in Europe (in Düsseldorf, The Hague, and briefly in Paris) from 1849 to 1855. —AM
MacGibeny, 2021: This painting was offered for sale by Stan. V. Henkels in 1917 as part of the pair Russian Ambassador and Wife. It is described in the catalogue as being signed 1852, when Johnson was working in The Hague. It is possible that the subject is Johann Georg Friedrich Franz von Maltitz (1794–1857), who was Russian ambassador to The Netherlands in The Hague at least 1851–1853.
Johann Georg Friedrich Franz von Maltitz (1794–1857). Russian ambassador to the Netherlands in The Hague, at least 1851–1853. A baron of German extraction who was in the Tsar's diplomatic service, and in Russia had been a poet [Edgar Franz, Philipp Franz Von Siebold and Russian Policy and Action on Opening Japan to the West in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century, p. 109].
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