Catalogue Entry
Johnson moved to The Hague in 1851. On November 20, 1851, he wrote to Andrew Warner of the American Art-Union, “I am at present . . . at the Hague, where I find I am deriving much advantage from studying the splendid works of Rembrandt & a few other of the old Dutch masters, who I find are only to be seen in Holland. I shall probably continue here a good portion of the winter" [Adapted from Hills, The Genre Painting of Eastman Johnson, pp. 40–41].
He made free copies after Rembrandt, Van Dyke, and the contemporary Belgian painter Louis Gallait. He stayed in the Netherlands until 1855 and developed a profitable career as a portrait painter. —PH
Hills opinion letter, 2017: "The subject is a three-quarter view of a man in an interior, holding a violin with his left hand and a bow with his right. His is dressed for the outdoors in somewhat ragged clothing: a dark brown cloak over a white shirt. He wears a hat that one associates with the late 18th century or early 19th century. To his right (our left) is an opening in the wall that has a ledge with a pile of paper, a quill pen and ink bottle. Also are branches of leaves coming into the top part of the opening as well as patches of sunshine."
MacGibeny, 2021: Gallait's original 1849 version of Art et Liberté is at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium; his smaller version, dated 1859, is at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
Label on verso, center of stretcher: unidentified: 6. Eastman Johnson American 1824 – 1906/Savoyard Fiddler 13 1/2 x 10 TO BE ILLUSTRATED/Oil on canvas signed in Monogram lower right/Ex-Collections; Mrs. Eastman Johnson, W. B. Cogswell, The Misses F. Pearl,/& Elisabeth[sic] Browning.
- Subject matter: