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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 Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc.
23.0 Children and Pets

A traditional theme in genre painting, but also seen in children’s portraits, are children interacting with their pets. Pets, then and now, were given to children to encourage responsibility and even empathy toward other creatures. Pictures in the theme Maine Haylofts (13.7) also include children and pets. —PH

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Hills no. 23.0.9
1907 Sale no. 19
Child Holding Pet Bunny
1907 Sale title: Ethel Johnson and Her Rabbit
Alternate title: possibly The Artist's Daughter
c.1878
Oil on artist's board
13 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. (34.3 x 21.6 cm)
Initialed lower right: E.J
Description / Remarks

Hills, 2021: The girl in this painting likely was modeled by Johnson's daughter, Ethel.

Although John I. H. Baur owned and annotated a copy of the catalogue of Johnson's 1907 Estate Sale, he did not include this work in his own 1940 catalogue listing; he must have obtained it after publication.

1907 Estate Sale info
No. 19: "This is the study of a little girl seated in a kitchen chair, coddling her pet white rabbit in her lap, holding him tightly with both hands, and at the same time gazing affectionately at the animal. She wears a gray dress with red at the sleeves, a broad white collar, blue stockings and high shoes. The figure is lighted strongly from the upper left, and a deep shadow is cast upon the background, which is the plastered wall of a room."
"Signed at the lower right, E. J.
Height, 13 inches; width, 8 ½ inches."
[Annotation: “85.00”]
Provenance
Eastman Johnson estate/Mrs. Eastman Johnson, New York, 1906 (by bequest)
[The artist's estate sale, American Art Association, New York, February 26–27, 1907, no. 19 (as Child Holding Pet Bunny)]
Joseph H. Darlington, Baltimore
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, January 1969]
Mrs. Anthony W. Roberts, April 7, 1971 (by purchase)
Possibly Spanierman Gallery, New York
Present whereabouts unknown
Exhibitions
1879b Century Association
Century Association, New York, February 1, 1879, [possibly, as The Artist's Daughter].
1969 Hirschl & Adler
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, The American Scene: A Survey of the Life and Landscape of the 19th Century, October 29–November 22, 1969. (Hirschl & Adler Galleries 1969), no. 52, b/w illus., as Ethel Johnson and Her Rabbit.
References
AAA 1907b
Catalogue of Finished Pictures, Studies, and Drawings by the Late Eastman Johnson, N.A. New York: American Art Association, February 1907. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 19, as Ethel Johnson and Her Rabbit.
Hirschl & Adler Galleries 1969
Hirschl & Adler Galleries. The American Scene: A Survey of the Life and Landscape of the 19th Century. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1969. Exhibition catalogue (1969 Hirschl & Adler), p. 44, no. 52, illus. in b/w, as Ethel Johnson and Her Rabbit.
Douglass 1999
Douglass, Julie M. "Lifetime Exhibition History." In Eastman Johnson: Painting America, by Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue, p. 262 [possibly, as The Artist's Daughter].
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination notes: Persian blue leggings; oil sketch and drawn lines.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Conkling, Ethel Eastman Johnson
Biography:

Ethel Eastman Johnson Conkling (1870–1931). Daughter of Johnson. Married Alfred Ronalds Conkling (m. 1896); after Conkling died, married William H. Holden (m. 1922) and settled abroad. Mother of three daughters, only one of whom had her own children. Ethel was Johnson’s frequent model in his genre scenes of children. 

Related work
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Conkling, Ethel Eastman Johnson (Mrs. Alfred Ronald Conkling, later Mrs. William H. Holden)
Keywords
Record last updated June 2, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Child Holding Pet Bunny, c.1878 (Hills no. 23.0.9)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=357 (accessed on May 3, 2024).