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

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc. © 2021
[ 21.1 Girls Indoors ]info
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21.1 Girls Indoors

Johnson’s daughter, Ethel, was born in May 1870, and it is not surprising that Johnson would use her (but not exclusively) as a model for the many pictures of young girls in interiors—playing with dolls, warming their hands by a stove, reading, sleeping. Such pictures often include the same furniture, such as the prie dieu (church prayer bench or kneeler) seen in Family Cares and The Tea Party. Because they were genre paintings, not portraits, Johnson freely renders the facial features. Thus, it is not surprising that for paintings done circa 1873, the bodily types of the girls look like three-year-olds; whereas those done circa 1878, look more like eight-years-olds. —PH

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Hills no. 21.1.16
Child Drinking
Alternate titles: Little Girl with Red Jacket Drinking from a Mug; Little Girl with Red Jacket Drinking from Mug
c.1872–73
Oil on board
14 1/4 x 11 1/8 in. (36.2 x 28.3 cm)
Initialed lower right: E.J.
The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina
Description / Remarks

Hills, 2021: The model for the child is likely Edith, Johnson’s daughter. The painting remained in the family of Johnson’s descendants until 1977.

Hills opinion letter, 2006: "The child is placed in what might be an open doorway with a darkened interior of luminous sienna brown shadows behind."

Library of Congress, United States Copyright Office, copyright notice no. 8046, 1907: "Little child drinking from a silver cup, one arm & hand hanging down."

Provenance
By descent in the family of the artist, until 1977
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1977]
Electra Webb Bostwick, Shelburne, Vermont, by 1981
Private collection, by 2006 (by descent)
[Sotheby's, May 24, 2006, Sale 8249, lot 32 (as Little Girl with Red Jacket Drinking from Mug)]
The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina, May 24, 2006 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1978 Hirschl & Adler
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, American Genre Painting in the Victorian Era: Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, and their Contemporaries, April 8–May 6, 1978. (Exhibition catalogue: Hirschl & Adler Galleries 1978), no. 48, illus., p. 44, as Little Girl with Red Jacket Drinking from Mug.
References
Library of Congress Copyright Office 1907
Library of Congress Copyright Office. Catalogue of Copyright Entries, Part 4: Engravings, Cuts, and Prints; Chromos and Lithographs; Photographs; Fine Arts; New Series. Volume 2, nos. 1–52, January–December, 1907. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1907, p. 223, no. 8040, as Child Drinking, copyright notice issued to Mrs. Eastman Johnson. "Little child drinking from a silver cup, one arm & hand hanging down," Class I, no. 20712, Feb. 6, 1907. One photograph received February 6, 1907.
Hirschl & Adler Galleries 1978
American Genre Painting in the Victorian Era: Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, and their Contemporaries. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1978. Exhibition catalogue (1978 Hirschl & Adler), p. 44, no. 48 illus., as Little Girl with Red Jacket Drinking from Mug.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 2006-04-18
Hills opinion letter: May 13, 2006 view »
Keywords
Record last updated October 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. "Child Drinking, c.1872–73 (Hills no. 21.1.16)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=276 (accessed on May 4, 2024).