Catalogue Entry
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
MacGibeny, 2021: This painting is shown sitting on the floor in a photograph of Johnson's studio in William Walton, "Eastman Johnson, Painter," Scribner's Magazine, September 1906. Its size can be estimated based on known paintings also shown in the photo, including the portrait of Seth Low to its left, which is 27 inches high.
Edward Hutchinson Robbins Lyman (1819–1899). Merchant banker; insurance. Son of Judge Joseph Lyman III and Anne Jean Robbins Lyman.
- Portrait pose: