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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
Children Reading, c.1861–62 (Hills no. 22.0.3). Overall with plate on frame
Overall with plate on frame
Photo: Patricia Hills
22.0 Boys and Girls Together

On occasion, Johnson painted boys and girls together. Most notable were his scenes of street musicians. During the 1870s Italian immigrant children earned money for their families by playing musical instruments in the city streets; such children were known as “slaves of the harp” [See John E. Zucchi, Little Slaves of the Harp: Italian Child Street Musicians in Nineteenth-Century Paris, London, and New York (McGill-Queens University Press, 1992)]. —PH

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Hills no. 22.0.3
Children Reading
Alternate titles: Children Playing School; Playing School
c.1861–62
Oil on canvas
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Signed lower left: E. Johnson
Labels
Plate on frame: Playing School/Eastman Johnson
Provenance
Robert Sloan Gallery, New York, 1975
Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York, 1975
[Christie's, December 2, 1977]
Graham Williford, New York
Alexander Gallery, New York
[Sotheby's, May 27, 1992, lot 25 (as Children Reading)]
David C. Copley, La Jolla, California, May 27, 1992 (by purchase)
[Sotheby's, October 3, 2013, lot 46 (as Children Reading)]
Private collection, October 13, 2013 (by purchase)
[Sotheby's, March 28, 2018, Sale 9844, American Art Sale, lot 133 (as Children Reading)]
Collection of Christopher Forbes, New Jersey, March 28, 2018 (by purchase)
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): Early 1970s; 2018-03-26 (Sotheby's)
Hills opinion letter: April 20, 1992 view »
Keywords
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. "Children Reading, c.1861–62 (Hills no. 22.0.3)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=307 (accessed on April 25, 2024).