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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc.
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28.0 Fancy, Picturesque, and Ideal Figures
In the late eighteenth century the “fancy” figure developed as a genre of painting. These figures were meant to be picturesque renderings of children, such as girls selling flowers, boys engaged in chores, or old men whose physiognomy suggests either their faith or their defiance of death. Often such pictures had a moralizing undercurrent. Johnson did a few such figures, sometimes European figures dressed in quaint local costumes but in keeping with his times he moved toward realism. —PH
Hills no. 28.0.2
Study of a Head
Alternate titles: Head of a Woman; Portrait of a Young Man
c.1862
Oil on board
10 1/4 x 8 in. (26 x 20.3 cm)
Initialed lower left: E.J.
Description / Remarks
Hills, 2021: Although this painting is undated, the expression on the subject's face bears a strong resemblance to that of the subject of Cosette, c. 1862.
Provenance
Morris Saffron, New York, by 1972
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1972]
[William Doyle Galleries, New York, on or before August 8, 1977]
Private collection, by August 8, 1977 (by purchase)
[Sotheby's, January 28, 1982, American 19th Century and Folk Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, lot 105 (as Study of a Head)]
David Ramus Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Private collection, Georgia, 1994
Private collection, by April 1, 2022
Charlton Hall Auctions, West Columbia, South Carolina, April 1, 2022, 93rd Anniversary Sale, lot 48 (as Portrait of a Young Man); did not sell
[Charlton Hall Auctions, West Columbia, South Carolina, September 23, 2022, Hopper, Kennedy & Sage Collections II (Online Only) (as Portrait of a Young Man))]
Unidentified buyer, September 23, 2022 (by purchase)
Record last updated September 30, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Study of a Head, c.1862 (Hills no. 28.0.2)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=470 (accessed on April 26, 2024).