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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Catalogue Entry
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Photo: William Vareika Fine Arts, Ltd.
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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. 18.0.15
Mother Reading to Child
Alternate titles: Mother and Child; Mother and Child: The Reading Lesson
c.1872–80
Oil on board
21 1/16 x 26 3/8 in. (53.5 x 67 cm)
Initialed lower right: EJ
Description / Remarks
Hills, 1980: Mother in white dress, reading book to child. The woman in profile in this painting resembles the woman in profile in Johnson's Woman on a Hill .
Labels
Verso sticker: Mother and Child/Eastman Johnson; sticker: Jas. P. Silo/Auctioneer/40 East 45th St.(?)/N.Y.C.; in red [?]: 333
Provenance
[James P. Silo, Auctioneer, New York, before 1947, no. 333]
Possibly private collector, Western Massachusetts
[Skinner, Inc., Boston, November 20, 1980, Fine Paintings: Old Master, 19th & 20th Century American & European, lot 101 (as Mother and Child)]
Graham Gallery
Dealer/private collector, Litchfield, Connecticut, by October 1983 until at least 1986
Franklin B. Biggs, Odessa, Delaware
William Vareika Fine Arts Ltd., Newport, Rhode Island, by 1994 (as Mother and Child: The Reading Lesson)
Michael Altman Fine Art, New York
Jonathan Boos, by October 8, 2004
Private collection, 2009
Present whereabouts unknown
References
Magazine Antiques 1994
William Vareika Fine Arts, Ltd. advertisement. The Magazine Antiques (New York) (March 1994), as Mother and Child: The Reading Lesson.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1980-10-17
Examination notes: Very faded. Mother in white dress, reading book to child. Child in white with long turquoise stockings. Turquoise spread on couch with red cloth above. 1) Turquoise pillow and touch on stocking leg. Red brown behind. 2) Subject—typical solicitousness re: child. 3) Picturesque profile. 4) Thin white over underpainting—this way, that way strokes. Sienna and yellows on sofa. Label Mother & Child/Eastman Johnson.
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Keywords
- Subject matter:
Record last updated July 26, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Mother Reading to Child, c.1872–80 (Hills no. 18.0.15)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=232 (accessed on May 1, 2024).