The identities of the women in these portraits have not yet been confirmed. However, the paintings are known or believed to have been done in the United States based on factors including their style, inscribed dates, and the appearance of the sitters when images are available. Johnson painted the vast majority of his oil portraits after he returned to the United States from Europe in 1855. —AM
Hills, 2022: 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.
This may be a portrait of a Johnson family member.
MacGibeny, 2021: The subject wears the same shawl as Mabel Cogswell, daughter of William Barnes Cogswell (1834–1921), a major collector of Johnson's work and husband of Johnson's niece Mary Naomi Johnson Cogswell. The two portraits also share a "sunlit sky" background.
Unidentified, undated sale catalogue: "#34: Bust portrait to half-right of a young girl with closely cropped brown curls, her arms folded inside a turquoise blue and gold kimono."
"Height, 23 inches; width, 19 inches."
[Annotation: “20.00”]
- Portrait pose:
- Subject matter: