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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc. © 2020
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16.0 Backyards, 1860s–1870s
In the 1870s he painted only a few landscapes of the villages of Nantucket that can be attributed to him. More characteristic seems to be the instances where he painted the backyards of neighbors with a focus on the compositions of angles of planks, stairs, and siding. —PH
Hills no. 16.0.3
Under the Vines
c.1870–80
Locale: Nantucket, Massachusetts
Oil on canvas
17 1/4 x 21 3/8 in. (43.8 x 54.3 cm)
Initialed lower right: E. J.
Description / Remarks
Hills opinion letter, 2001: "It is likely that the site of the picture is a backyard on Nantucket, where Johnson and his family summered beginning in 1870 when his daughter Ethel was an infant. It is clearly a summer scene with its large grape leaves and ripening green grapes."
Labels
Verso sticker: Calif. Palace of the Legion of Honor "The American Scene" exh. 855.64 Owner Victor Spark.
Provenance
Estate of Florence M. Johnson
Victor D. Spark, New York, until 1966
Private collection, 1966 (by purchase)
Private collection, by 2001 (by descent)
Sotheby's, November 28, 2001, Property from the Estates of Maude B. Feld and Samuel B. Feld, Esq., lot 37 (as Under the Vines); did not sell
[Christie's Online, May 15–22, 2018, lot 203 (as Under the Vines)]
[Christie's, May 15–22, 2019, American Art Online Auction, lot 194 (as Under the Vines)]
Lotus Art Collection, Singapore, May 22, 2019 (by purchase)
Christie's, United States, January 18, 2024, Live Auction 22388, 19th Century American & Western Art, lot 223 (as Under the Vines); did not sell
Exhibitions
1964 FAMSF
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, The American Scene, July–August 1964.References
Art Journal 1964a
The Art Journal 23, no. 3 (Spring 1964), p. 234, illus.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 2001-10-05
Examination notes: Woman seated sewing at left in blue grey dress. No graphite lines on woman. Overall surface—very thin. Graphite lines on porch and steps—very ruler like. Nice shadowed depths, e.g., under porch floor, behind steps. Large grape leaves and grapes. Chicken in front by vine and in back by fence. Water drain pipe at left—very EJ—blue grey. At right—pail also—blue grey—good highlights. Note: graphite line rather thick continues to right of back fence. Sky looks good. Rain barrel in right corner—with a drain. Highlight on her cloth she is mending.
Keywords
- Subject matter:
- Barrels »
Record last updated January 26, 2024. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Under the Vines, c.1870–80 (Hills no. 16.0.3)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=217 (accessed on April 27, 2024).