In 1857 Johnson drew the “Five Sisters”—women who were friends or relatives of each other. Beginning in the 1860s Johnson began to make “conversation groups” in oil, as had been the fashion in England in the 1700s. These scenes were of families relaxed in interiors and engaged in talking with each other, such as the Hatches, Browns, Blatchfords, and Burdens. In a few instances Johnson did charcoal drawings of the whole scene or individual members, but it is not clear if such drawings were done before or after their oil counterparts. —PH
MacGibeny, 2022: This "crayon of the boys" mentioned by Johnson's widow Elizabeth in her letter to Mary Blatchford, quoted below, likely would have been a study for the 1880 oil portrait of her sons Eliphalet Huntington Blatchford and Charles Hammond Blatchford. Perhaps Mrs. Johnson had sent it to Mrs. Blatchford while dispersing the contents of Johnson's studio after his death in 1906. Although the term "crayon" was used in the nineteenth century to describe a variety of drawing media and the specific media of this drawing are not known, Mrs. Johnson's comment about "drawings without the color" indicates it would have been done primarily in graphite and/or charcoal rather than pastel.
Elizabeth Johnson letter to Mary Blatchford (mother of Charles and Eliphalet Blatchford, portrayed by Johnson in 1880), dated October 27, 1909:
"My dear Mrs. Blatchford
"I received last eve yours of the 25th October and am much pleased to hear how you like the crayon. I agree with you that Mr. Johnson’s drawings without the color often give a spirituality to the subject that is very striking. You see and feel the subject from a different viewpoint. Those lovely boys so beautifully depicted and so strong and speaking in effect. Also, I was so pleased to hear that you owned the drawing of the 'Field Hospital' as it is so charming and touching that [sic] young wounded soldier and his nurse. The muse was Mrs. May (I mean she sat for it, wife of the Rev. Joseph May of Philadelphia and Mr. Johnson’s sister). I suppose the 'Camp Hospital at Gettysburg' is the real name—& I have the pass Mr. Johnson had for following the Army for war subjects….
"…I am daily getting the materials for for [sic] a complete book highly illustrated with his works, and may have to ask for a photo both of the painting and crayon of the boys for the book…"
- Portrait pose:
- Portrait sitter families: