Like many artists in the nineteenth century, Johnson often did paintings of “types” that are actually identifiable portraits. For example, the painting John F. Sylvia shows a Nantucket miller in his barn looking up from his account books to look out the window. Called at one time The Falling Market, the subject suggests a man perhaps assessing his position in the economy in the early years of the 1870s when a recession gripped the nation. —PH
Nantucket Historical Society website, accessed February 24, 2021: "In this small study, Johnson portrays what is possibly the figure of Charles H. Fishback, who served as captain of the island steamer Gay Head toward the end of the nineteenth century. Though still an active mariner, Johnson presents Captain Fishback as a figure in retirement, seated slightly hunched over, leaning on his walking stick for support, with a huddled visage looming quietly under a quaint brown cap. The captain appears to reminisce about a life spent at sea, his gaze trailing off from a face set off by large ears and a bulbous, weathered nose. On the painting’s back, a note likely by Johnson, describes the subject as an 'Old Grouty Man'.”
"Signed at the lower left, E. J.
Height, 9 inches; width, 6 inches"
[Annotation: “27.50 / Cogswell”]
Inscribed on verso of frame, in lead pencil: Old Grouty Man
Charles H. Fishback (1850–1920). “...Captain on the local steamboats. His life dates suggest we have the painting dated incorrectly or that it is a different Capt. Fishback. There is no other Nantucket Capt. Fishback, however, as Charles H. was born in Ohio (some sources say Indiana) and there is no record of his father, John, ever came to Massachusetts. Charles H. lived in New Bedford much of his life, but would have been at Nantucket frequently during the period he worked on the boats, 1880s to 1907” [National Historical Association].
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