loading 
Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Catalogue Entry
enlarge
Photo: Courtesy of The R. W. Norton Art Foundation, Shreveport, LA
⊠
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
Hills no. 22.0.5
The Christmas Letter
Alternate title: possibly The Letter
1867
Oil on board
25 1/16 x 20 5/16 in. (63.7 x 51.6 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson/1867
Provenance
Spanierman Gallery, New York, by 1990
The R. W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, Louisiana, December 1990
Exhibitions
1879c Century Association
Century Association, New York, March 1, 1879, [possibly, as The Letter].Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1990-10-25
Examination notes: Green mailbox. Green (some turquoise dress) on front girl. Red kerchief. Pencil lines on dress. Outlining feet; seams on boy's trousers. White snow—painterly strokes go this way and that. Two girls walking away—thinning of paint—pentimenti visible. Girl in profile—face averted. Snow shoveler in background standing in doorway. Blocks on which lions sit. Also pentimenti of shoveler's legs. Face of girl—stippled paint—even here graphite line firms up edge of chin—can see under paint. Hand of boy—paint scumbled.
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. "The Christmas Letter, 1867 (Hills no. 22.0.5)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=309 (accessed on May 1, 2024).