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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager

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[ 18.0 Mother and Child ]info
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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

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Hills no. 18.0.7
Comfort in Weariness
Alternate titles: possibly The Cradle Song (Interior); The Cradle Song
c.1866
[dimensions unknown]
Present whereabouts unknown
Description / Remarks

Hills, 2021: The subject is explained by William Sydney Mount who made a note in his diary, undated: “National Academy of Design—Interior of Kitchen (Eastman Johnson). The appurtenances of which are neatly arranged & carefully studied. Before the hearth near the fire is a cradle, and the young mother, exhausted from the exercise of her domestic duties, falls asleep over the infant. This picture is simply treated and tells its own story. In this line of painting Mr. Johnson has no equal in this country. The picture is called Comfort in Weariness.” This diary entry was typed by Alfred Frankenstein and mailed to me on June 4, 1972.

Provenance
Present whereabouts unknown
Exhibitions
1866 NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, Forty-first Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design, April 17–July 4, 1866. (NAD 1866), no. 158, as Comfort in Weariness.
References
Harper's Weekly 1866
"Editor's Easy Chair." Harper's Weekly 33 (June 1866), p. 117: "…[in the 41st Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design] Mr. Johnson hangs a tender little song upon the walls in ‘Comfort in Weariness.’ It is a young mother in a poor room bent across the cradle of her infant. Every detail is affectionately painted, and with that exquisite freedom from exaggeration which shows calm and conscious power," as Comfort in Weariness.
NAD 1866
Catalogue of the 41st Annual Exhibition. New York: National Academy of Design, 1866. Exhibition catalogue (1866 NAD), no. 158, as Comfort in Weariness.
The Albion 1866
The Albion 5 (May 1866), p. 213.
Walton 1906
Walton, William. "Eastman Johnson, Painter." Scribner's Magazine 40 (September 1906), p. 266, as The Cradle Song.
Hartmann 1908
Hartmann, Sadakichi. "Eastman Johnson: American Genre Painter." The International Studio 34 (April 1908), p. 108 illus., as The Cradle Song.
Kennedy Galleries 1920
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 12, addendum “Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as The Cradle Song (Interior)].
Mount n.d.
Mount, William Sydney. William Sydney Mount Journal. This diary entry was typed by Alfred Frankenstein and mailed to Patricia Hills on June 4, 1972, as Comfort in Weariness.
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Record last updated July 28, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Comfort in Weariness, c.1866 (Hills no. 18.0.7)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=238 (accessed on May 3, 2024).