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
FDR Presidential Library object record: "Oil painting of Franklin Hughes Delano. He is standing, wearing a dark suit with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a cigarette.
"Franklin Hughes Delano was FDR's great uncle, after whom he was named. The portrait hung in Steen Valetje (Mr. Delano's house built in 1851), Barrytown, New York, until it was lent (along with MO 73.34 [Eastman Johnson's Laura Astor Delano] with which it forms a pair) to the FDR Library in 1967 at the time house and contents were sold by the Delano family."
Franklin Hughes Delano (1813–1893). Financier (railroads and land grants). Married Laura Eugenia Astor (m. 1844), also portrayed by Johnson. Belonged to several New York private clubs, where Johnson was also a member.
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