The mother and child theme in art not only has references to Christian art but also to the realities of caregiving by women. Johnson seems to have been particularly drawn to the theme as the result of his wife’s caring for their daughter, Ethel. —PH
MacGibeny, 2021: This image was reproduced on two Hallmark greeting cards: "Birthday (Mother)," released December 26, 1955; and "Birthday (Mother)," released November 25, 1959 and January 6, 1960.
The cards included the following message:
No love could ever take the place
Of your love, Mother dear,
No one could be more thoughtful
Than you’ve been year after year,
No one is more deserving
Of life’s sweet and happy things,
And that’s just why there’s so much love
Behind the wish this brings.
Happy Birthday
(Text Courtesy of the Hallmark Archives, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri)
The Round Table, November 3, 1866: "Mr. S. P. Avery has refitted his art-gallery, which is now open to the public. Among the new pictures in it is a small one by Eastman Johnson—a charming subject of a woman with a child in her lap."
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