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: On the form she filled out for the 1940 catalogue of Johnson's work by John I. H. Baur, owner Mabel H. Chapin described the circumstances of the making of this portrait: "Painted at the request of the late Edwd. W. Hooper from a persistent series of photographs taken for this purpose. Mr. Johnson saw the subject only once. He made a black and white sketch now in possession of my niece…" Baur included the painting in his catalogue, but not the drawing; the drawing will be added to this catalogue raisonné with all Johnson drawings in the future.
The sitter would have been about 26 years old at the time of this portrait. See the linked photographs of Chapin for his likeness five years and twenty-five years later.
Horace Dwight Chapin (1840–1937). Boston attorney and patron of the arts.
- Portrait pose: