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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, Project Manager and Co-Author

Catalogue Entry

[ 31.1 U.S. Portraits, Men ]info
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31.1 U.S. Portraits, Men

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

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Hills no. 31.1.45
Baur no. 176a
John Call Dalton
Columbia University, Avery Library, Art Properties title: Portrait of John Call Dalton (1825–1889)
Alternate titles: Dr. J. C. Dalton; Portrait of Dr. J. C. Dalton, President of College of Physicians and Surgeons
1886
Oil on canvas
45 x 34 in. (114.3 x 86.4 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson/1886 [As in other Johnson paintings of the 1880s and 1890s, the "8"s have a flat top]
Columbia University, Art Properties, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Presented to the College by members of the faculty, medical trustees and alumni, 1887 (C00.0453)
Description/Remarks

MacGibeny, 2021: Although the painting is inscribed 1886, the plate on the frame says that it was painted by Johnson in 1885. The inscribed date is considered to be official for the purposes of this catalogue raisonné, but it is possible that Johnson began the painting the prior year. It is also possible that the date on the plate is in error.

Markings
Plate on frame: Painted by Eastman Johnson, 1885
Provenance
Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York
Columbia University, Avery Library, Art Properties, New York, 1887 (originally to the College of Physicians and Surgeons, by gift)
Exhibitions
1886a Century Association
Century Association, New York, March 6, 1886, as Dr. J. C. Dalton.
1886 NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, April 5–May 15, 1886. (NAD 1886), no. 515, as Portrait of Dr. J. C. Dalton, President of College of Physicians and Surgeons, owner College of P. & S.
1908 Century Association
Century Association, New York, Exhibition of Portraits Owned by Columbia University, March 16–31, 1908.
References
NAD 1886
New York: National Academy of Design, 1886. Exhibition catalogue (1886 NAD), p. 70, no. 515, as Portrait of Dr. J. C. Dalton, President of College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Columbia University 1912
An Official Guide to Columbia University. New York: Columbia University Press, 1912, p. 109.
Baur 1940
Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), p. 68, no. 176a, as John Call Dalton.
Douglass 1999
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. 264.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Dalton, John Call
Biography:

John Call Dalton (1825–1889). America’s first professional physiologist. Served as a surgeon in the Civil War. Prominent lecturer and writer in the medical field.

Related work
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Dalton, John Call
Keywords
Record last updated March 22, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "John Call Dalton, 1886 (Hills no. 31.1.45)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=534 (accessed on May 1, 2025).