Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Catalogue Entry
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Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
Frame
Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
Verso
Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
Verso
Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
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03.1 Euro Peasant Types, Men
Since the sixteenth century European artists have brought ordinary people and children into their studios to model for them. The resulting paintings are often “types” that would appeal to the market. Johnson painted such works, especially in the Hague, where he went to study Rembrandt and the Old Dutch Masters in 1851. —PH
Hills no. 3.1.2
Head of a Man
1854
Locale: The Hague, the Netherlands
Oil on board
9 3/8 x 7 1/2 in. (23.8 x 19 cm) (sight)
Inscribed verso: by "Eastman Johnson", at the Hague/1854/EWJ Executrix –
Description / Remarks
Hills, 2021: This portrait is not likely to be a self-portrait as noted on a sheet of paper affixed to the verso.
Labels
On paper pasted to verso: His widow, (Alice Vail Corbett's second cousin "Cousin Libby" Johnson) sold and gave away literally hundreds of his pictures and half finished sketches, many of them only initialed. This portrait is said to be a self [sic] portrait in the Flemish style—it was given my mother, Louise Cleveland Shepard at the time of her marriage to Stephen Vail as a wedding present." Signed Alice Shepard Vail Corbett
Provenance
Eastman Johnson estate/Mrs. Eastman Johnson, New York, 1906 (by bequest)
Louise Cleveland Shepard
Alice Shepard Vail Corbett, her daughter
Dorothy Adlow, Boston, until 1964
Electra Yourke, New York, her daughter, by 1971 (by descent)
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1971-06-04; 2023-10-03
Examination notes: Hills 1971-06-04: Very dark: light from left—à la Rembrandt. Short touches of cream and pink paint on light side of face. Transparent shadows.
Hills and MacGibeny 2023-10-03: Extremely dark. Numerous accretions of pigment. No efflorescence under UV light.
Hills and MacGibeny 2023-10-03: Extremely dark. Numerous accretions of pigment. No efflorescence under UV light.
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Record last updated November 13, 2023. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Head of a Man, 1854 (Hills no. 3.1.2)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=30 (accessed on April 23, 2024).