Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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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. 28.0.5
1907 Sale no. 114
Lady Audrey
Alternate title: Lady Audry [sic]
c.1872–80
Oil
21 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (54.6 x 44.4 cm)
Initialed lower right: E.J
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Description/Remarks
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.
1907 Estate Sale 

No. 114: "The full-length figure of a lady dressed in a black robe, with a shawl draped over her head and falling to her feet on either side. A heavy gold chain falls from her girdle, and a number of necklaces hang around her neck. The upper part of the figure is in strong light from the left, the head is in three-quarters view to the right and the eyes are turned in the same direction."
"Signed at the lower right, E. J.
Height, 21 ½ inches; width, 17 ½ inches."
[Annotation: “27.50”]
"Signed at the lower right, E. J.
Height, 21 ½ inches; width, 17 ½ inches."
[Annotation: “27.50”]
Exhibitions
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, as Lady Audry [sic].
References
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. 114, as Lady Audrey.
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, p. 266, as Lady Audry [sic].
Record last updated April 7, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Lady Audrey, c.1872–80 (Hills no. 28.0.5)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=472 (accessed on May 1, 2025).