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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
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26.2 Nantucket Genre—Outdoors
In June 1869 Johnson married Elizabeth Buckley of Troy, New York, and the following summer he and his wife and their baby, Ethel, went to Nantucket, Massachusetts for the season. Johnson responded enthusiastically to Nantucket, which seemed to be filled with characters and activities that appealed to him, and the couple returned to the island each summer. Beside painting genre scenes of men, women, and children both indoors and outside, Johnson launched a major theme—the cranberry harvest—a time in the fall when the whole community turned out to pick the wild cranberries ripening in the bogs of Nantucket. Johnson made at least eighteen studies before crafting his major painting, The Cranberry Harvest, which was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1880. —PH
Hills no. 26.2.2
Baur no. 128 / 1907 Sale no. 27
The Study for "The Old Stage Coach"
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts title: Study for "The Old Stage Coach"
Alternate title: Study for The Old Stage Coach
c.1871
Locale: Nantucket, Massachusetts
Oil on canvas
13 3/4 x 18 in. (34.9 x 45.7 cm)
Initialed lower left: E. J.
1907 Estate Sale 
No. 27: "The body of an old stage coach which, in its time, judging from its form and color, must have been a famous vehicle, has been cast aside on an open field near a farmyard, and a large group of merry children are playing with it. Two girls and two boys, prancing and kicking, represent the four horses. Other occupy the box-seat and interior, and a more enterprising lad stands on top waving his hat, while a companion endeavors to climb up to him."
"Signed at the lower left, E.J.
Height, 13 ½ inches; length, 17 ½ inches."
[Annotation: “55.00/ (Thos. H. Hubbard)”]
"Signed at the lower left, E.J.
Height, 13 ½ inches; length, 17 ½ inches."
[Annotation: “55.00/ (Thos. H. Hubbard)”]
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. 27 (as The Study for "The Old Stage Coach")]
Thomas Hamlin Hubbard, February 26, 1907 (by purchase)
Sibyl Emma Hubbard (Mrs. Herbert Seymour) Darlington, Philadelphia, his daughter, by 1940 until at least 1944
Bernice Marilla McIlhenny (Mrs. John S.) Wintersteen
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1977 (by partial gift and bequest)
Exhibitions
1939 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906, January 18, 1939–February 26, 1940. (Exhibition catalogue: Baur 1940), no. 128, b/w illus., Pl. XVIII (detail), as Study for "The Old Stage Coach".1942 John Levy Galleries
John Levy Galleries, New York, Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, April 8–30, 1942. (John Levy Galleries 1942), no. 12, as Study for The Old Stage Coach.1972 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 61, b/w illus., p. 72, as Study for The Old Stage Coach. Traveled to: The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, June 7–July 22, 1972; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, August 15–September 30, 1972; Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, October 20–December 3, 1972.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. 27, as The Study for "The Old Stage Coach".Baur 1940
Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), pp. 44, 65, no. 128, Pl. XVIII, as Study for "The Old Stage Coach".John Levy Galleries 1942
Exhibition of Eastman Johnson. New York: John Levy Galleries, 1942. Exhibition catalogue (1942 John Levy Galleries), n.p. (2), no. 12, as Study for The Old Stage Coach.Crosby 1944
Crosby, Everett U. Eastman Johnson at Nantucket: His Paintings and Sketches of Nantucket People and Scenes. Nantucket, MA, 1944, p. 16, C.38, as Study for The Old Stage Coach.Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), p. 72, no. 61, illus., as Study for The Old Stage Coach.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination notes: Colors very fresh. Green ground. Pale blue sky. Faces not delineated. White impasto on backs of children's clothes. Sienna brown and reddish brown.
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Record last updated June 29, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "The Study for "The Old Stage Coach", c.1871 (Hills no. 26.2.2)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=404 (accessed on May 6, 2024).