Catalogue Entry
When Johnson returned to the United States, he not only painted genre paintings but he also continued to paint portraits, which gave him a steady income. After 1880 Johnson turned to portraiture almost exclusively. During the 1880s and 1890s he painted businessmen, lawyers, university presidents, and three U.S. presidents from life. At times he also painted their wives and children.
He was also commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, often from photographs. These portraits by and large do not have the sparkle and active brushwork of those done from life. It seems that the demand for portraits of business and civic leaders (and members of exclusive men’s clubs) was so high that portrait painters would often make copies of each other’s paintings to satisfy the market for such images. In many instances, it has been difficult to render opinions for such paintings. —PH
MacGibeny, 2021: In his last will and testament, dated December 22, 1905, Eastman Johnson specified that this painting should be inherited by his sister: "I give and bequeath to my sister Mary K. Johnson my life size portrait of my uncle Carter Chandler, also my portrait of my brother Reuben, also the sum of Two thousand dollars ($2,000)."
John Carter Chandler (1786–1866). Johnson's uncle; brother of Johnson's mother, Mary Kimball Chandler.
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