Catalogue Entry
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
Hills, 2021: This is likely a study for Girl with Skates; however, it could also have been done in 1877, when a major snowstorm that January 1–2 brought 13 inches of snow to Central Park (the same amount as in January 1879), according to government statistics.
Kende Galleries sale catalogue, 1940: "A little girl in brown coat and bonnet standing in the snow."
