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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, Project Manager and Co-Author

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Reproduced in H. Barbara Weinberg, "Thomas B. Clarke: Foremost Patron of American Art from 1872 to 1899," 1976
[ 26.2 Nantucket Genre—Outdoors ]info
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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

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Hills no. 26.2.9
The New England Pedler [sic]
Alternate titles: possibly The Pedlar [sic]; New England Peddler; The Churchman; The New England Peddler
1879
Locale: Nantucket, Massachusetts
Oil on canvas
29 x 19 in. (73.7 x 48.3 cm)
Signed left and dated 1879
Present whereabouts unknown
Description/Remarks

American Art Association sale catalogue, 1899: "Seated in a snug corner of the garden, the ancient vendor of much coveted trifles is parading the fascinating contents of his basket to a rustic lass who kneels beside him with open eyes and receptive ears. The persuasive accents of the adroit old chapman are suggested by the expression of his shrewd face. That his persuasion is scarcely needed to effect a sale the absorbed interest of his prospective customer makes manifest."

Provenance
Thomas B. Clarke, by March 1879
[American Art Association, New York, February 14–18, 1899, The Private Art Collection of Thomas B. Clarke, no. 366 (as New England Peddler)]
W. O. Whitcomb, February 17, 1899 (by purchase)
Present whereabouts unknown
Exhibitions
1879 NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, 1879. (NAD 1879), no. 162, as The New England Pedler [sic].
1879b Century Association
Century Association, New York, February 1, 1879, [possibly, as The Pedlar (sic)].
1883b American Art Galleries
American Art Galleries, New York, The Private Collection of Paintings by Exclusively American Artists, Owned by Thomas B. Clarke, December 28, 1883–January 12, 1884. (Exhibition catalogue: AAG 1883), no. 64, as New England Peddler.
1886a Union League Club of New York
The Union League Club of New York, New York, Exhibition of Paintings, March 11, 1886, no. 69, as New England Peddler, owner Thos. B. Clarke.
1892b NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, Loan Exhibition for the New York Columbian Celebration, October 1892, no. 75, as The New England Peddler, owner Thos. B. Clarke, Esq.
References
NAD 1879
New York: National Academy of Design, 1879. Exhibition catalogue (1879 NAD), no. 162, as The New England Pedler [sic], owner Thomas B. Clarke.
AAG 1883
American Art Association. The Private Collection of Thomas B. Clarke of New York: Exhibited at American Art Gallery, New York. New York: The Studio Press, 1883. Exhibition brochure (1883b American Art Galleries), p. 34, no. 64, as New England Peddler.
AAA 1899
Catalogue of the Private Art Collection of Thomas B. Clarke. New York: American Art Association, February 1899. Sale catalogue, no. 366, as New England Peddler.
Levy 1899
Levy, Florence N., ed. American Art Annual. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1899.
Ledger Monthly 1901
The Ledger Monthly (September 1901), Cover [possibly].
Weinberg 1976
Weinberg, H. Barbara. "Thomas B. Clarke: Foremost Patron of American Art from 1872 to 1899." The American Art Journal 8, no. 1 (May 1976), pp. 64, 77, illus., as New England Peddler.
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, pp. 262, 263, 264, 265.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Manter, Nathan H.
Biography:

Captain Nathan H. Manter (1818–1897). “The most famous of the old Nantucket steam-ship captains, retiring from service in 1891, having been employed on Island steamers about forty years, thirty of which were on the Island Home” [Letter from Richard C. Kugler, Director, Whaling Museum, January 27, 1969, to Mr. W. Myron Owen]. Erroneously reported as killed by a whale in 1851 [1907 Sale Cat. no. 53, Captain Coleman].

Manter, Nathan H.
Keywords
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Photo: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
A New England Peddler [wood engraving by Henry Wolf]
c.1885
Wood engraving
Image: 9 5/8 x 6 3/8 in. (24.4 x 16.2 cm)
Sheet: 13 1/8 x 9 3/8 in. (33.4 x 23.8 cm)
Inscribed lower right in graphite: Henry Wolf sculpt; in block, lower right: HENRY WOLF. Sc; in block, lower left: E. Johnson/1879
National Gallery of Art, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams (2008.115.5114)

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Record last updated April 4, 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 New England Pedler [sic], 1879 (Hills no. 26.2.9)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=407 (accessed on May 1, 2025).