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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Hallmark Cards
Inscription
Photo: Hallmark Cards
Verso
Photo: Hallmark Cards
Cover of Hallmark Birthday (Mother) card, 1955
Photo: Courtesy of the Hallmark Archives, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO
Inside of Hallmark Birthday (Mother) card, 1955
Photo: Courtesy of the Hallmark Archives, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO
Cover of Hallmark Birthday (Mother) cards, 1959 and 1960
Photo: Courtesy of the Hallmark Archives, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO
Inside of Hallmark Birthday (Mother) cards, 1959 and 1960
Photo: Courtesy of the Hallmark Archives, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO
⊠
18.0 Mother and Child
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
Hills no. 18.0.3
Baur no. 120
The Soldier's Wife
Hallmark Cards, Inc. title: Lullaby
Alternate titles: A Lullaby; Soldier's Wife; The Lullaby
1864–69
Oil on board
16 3/8 x 13 3/8 in. (41.6 x 34 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson 1864 - 9
Description / Remarks
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."
Provenance
Samuel Putnam Avery, New York, by 1869
[Samuel P. Avery, New York, April 27, 1869, Somerville Gallery, Catalogue of Samuel P. Avery's Entire Collection of Works of Art, by Celebrated American and Foreign Artists, in Oil and Water Colors, Painted Expressly For or Imported by Him, no. 46 (as The Soldier's Wife)]
John Hudson Hall, April 27, 1869 until at least 1871 (by purchase)
Cornelia Gertrude Ward Hall, until 1921
[The Anderson Galleries, New York, April 12, 1922, Valuable Paintings from the Collections of Mr. John N. Luning of New York City, the Late Cornelia G. Ward Hall of Brooklyn and Others, no. 6, from the Cornelia G. Ward Hall Estate (as The Lullaby)]
Arlington Art Gallery, New York
[Anderson Galleries, Inc., November 11–12, 1926, Paintings of the American & European Schools Being the Stock of the Arlington Art Gallery, 274 Madison Avenue, New York, no. 18 (as A Lullaby)]
Lucien Sharpe
[American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, Inc., March 8–9, 1935, Fine Georgian Furniture, American XVIII Century Furniture, an Exceptional Group of Duncan Phyfe Pieces, Kirman and Kashan Rugs, an Important Lille Teniers Tapestry, Oil Paintings, no. 75, property of the Estate of the Late Lucien Sharpe (as A Lullaby)]
[Possibly [W. H.] O'Reilly of Plaza Art Galleries, Inc., Donnellon [?] sale, Brooklyn, New York, c. 1936]
Julius Weitzner, New York
Leroy Ireland, New York
Dr. Hyatt Lyke, by June 1939 (by purchase)
Wildenstein and Company, New York, by 1953
Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri, December 1953 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1871 Union League Club of New York
The Union League Club of New York, New York, January 26, 1871, as The Lullaby, owner J. H. Hall.1948 Wildenstein & Co.
Wildenstein & Co, New York, Eastman Johnson, Summer 1948. (Wildenstein 1948), no. 5, as Lullaby.1949 Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art
Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art, Los Angeles, Winslow Homer 1836–1910, Eastman Johnson 1824–1906, February 4, 1949–May 7, 1950. (Exhibition catalogue: LACMA 1949), no. 5, as A Lullaby. Traveled to: Denver Art Museum, Denver, 1949; Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Oklahoma Arts Center, Oklahoma City, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Takoma Art League, Takoma, Washington, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949).References
Round Table 1866b
"Art Notes." The Round Table (New York) (November 3, 1866), p. 228: "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."Samuel P. Avery 1869
Catalogue of Samuel P. Avery's Entire Collection of Works of Art, by Celebrated American and Foreign Artists, in Oil and Water Colors, Painted Expressly For or Imported by Him. New York: Samuel P. Avery, April 27, 1869. Sale catalogue, p. 7, no. 46, as The Soldier's Wife.Rural New Yorker 1869b
"Art and Artists." Moore's Rural New-Yorker (New York and Rochester, N.Y.), May 15, 1869, p. 322: “‘Soldier’s Wife,’ (a woman lullabying her child to sleep), by Eastman Johnson, sold for $600," as Soldier's Wife.Brooklyn Museum 1900
Eastman Johnson. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, 1900, p. 65, no. 120.Anderson Galleries 1926
Paintings of the American & European Schools Being the Stock of the Arlington Art Gallery. New York: Anderson Galleries, November 11–December 26, 1926. Sale catalogue, no. 18, as A Lullaby.Baur 1938–41d
Baur, John I. H. Notebook Y. 1938–41. John I. H. Baur papers, 1946–1979, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 70, as The Lullaby.Baur 1940
Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), p. 65, no. 120, as A Lullaby.Wildenstein 1948
Eastman Johnson. New York: Wildenstein, 1948. Exhibition catalogue (1948 Wildenstein & Co.), No. 5, as Lullaby.Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949
Winslow Homer 1836–1910; Eastman Johnson 1824–1906. San Diego, CA: Fine Arts Society of San Diego, 1949. Exhibition catalogue (1949 Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art), no. 5, as A Lullaby.LACMA 1949
Winslow Homer 1836–1910, Eastman Johnson 1824–1906. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1949. Exhibition catalogue (1949 Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art), no. 5.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1996-11
Examination notes: Paint loss U.L. and on skirt of woman near toe. Glowing lights—deft details. Reflections on tea kettle. Baby the same as baby in Bo Peep—about 2 1/2 years old. Red socks—peach dress. Rocker has cushion—predominantly red and turquoise. Floorboards, shadows—deftly done. Mom—eyes open—stares down.
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Record last updated July 22, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "The Soldier's Wife, 1864–69 (Hills no. 18.0.3)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=224 (accessed on April 29, 2024).