When Johnson returned from Europe late in 1855 and moved in with his family in Washington, D.C., he began receiving portrait commissions. Like the commissioned drawings done earlier, Johnson generally used charcoal (named in some records as black chalk) with touches of white and created a strong chiaroscuro for his sitters. In his later professional years as a painter of oil few portraits of children are recorded. His art commanded high prices; perhaps families were then reluctant to include their children in sittings for portrait drawings. —PH
Letter from Harriet Walker Dodson (Mrs. Richard Townshend) to John Baur, January 23, 1940: "I have a portrait of my husband, Richard Townshend Dodson, at the age of fourteen, done in sepia [sic] by Mr. Johnson, and it is beautiful. It is signed 'E. Johnson, May 1856.' My husband was born and raised in Washington; he laughingly told how bothered he was to be told, upon arriving home from school, to hurry and change into his 'best' clothes and go to the studio. Boy-like, he didn't want to waste his time for such nonsense, so he [illeg.]ed himself into his suit and went as bidden. He said that Mr. Johnson would sit and talk to him and tell him anecdotes, and suddenly dash to his easel and make some quick strokes. There were four sittings in all."
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