Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI
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Photo: Courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI
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20.1 Boys Indoors
Young boys have been a traditional staples of genre painting. To patrons of art during the mid-nineteenth century these youths recalled memories of their own growing years in which innocence was becoming more and more modified by mischievous cunning. —PH
Hills no. 20.1.2r
1907 Sale no. 83
Little Brown Boy
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design title: Study of a Boy
Alternate title: Portrait of a Young Boy (Study of a Boy)
c.1860–69
Oil on panel
13 1/8 x 6 5/8 in. (33.3 x 16.8 cm)
Signed lower left in brown: E. Johnson
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Description / Remarks
Hills, 2022: Although John I. H. Baur owned and annotated a copy of the catalogue of Johnson's 1907 Estate Sale, he did not include this work in his own 1940 catalogue listing; he must have obtained it after publication.
1907 Estate Sale 
No. 83: "The full-length figure of a small lad dressed in a suit of brown with red socks, standing with his hands behind him, gazing directly out of the picture."
"Signed at the lower left, E. Johnson
Height, 13 inches; width, 6 ½ inches."
[Annotation: “57.00”]
"Signed at the lower left, E. Johnson
Height, 13 inches; width, 6 ½ inches."
[Annotation: “57.00”]
Provenance
Exhibitions
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, no. 83, as Little Brown Boy.
RISD Museum, Rhode Island, Memorial Exhibition of Works of Art Given by Isaac Comstock Bates, February 28–April 13, 1913. (Rhode Island School of Design 1913), no. 41, as Study of a Boy.
References
Catalogue of Finished Pictures, Studies, and Drawings by the Late Eastman Johnson, N.A. New York: American Art Association, February 1907. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 83, as Little Brown Boy.
Rhode Island School of Design. Memorial Exhibition of Works of Art Given by Isaac Comstock Bates. Providence, RI: Standard Printing Co., 1913. Exhibition catalogue (1913 RISD Museum), as Study of a Boy.
Mandel, Patricia. Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Selection VII: American Paintings from the Museum's Collection, c. 1800–1930. Providence, RI: Rhode Island School of Design, 1977, pp. 114–15, no. 30.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1971-07-16; 1984-05-07
Examination notes: Very brown. Bad condition. Peaked cap. Brown clothes & cap. Yellow green trim on collar. Red socks. Slightly greenish trousers. Outlined around clothes also folds. Round eyes, round nose, full lips. (Probably cleaned.) Rich brown sienna.
Related work
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Record last updated April 7, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Little Brown Boy, c.1860–69 (Hills no. 20.1.2r)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=254 (accessed on April 26, 2024).