Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, Project Manager and Co-Author
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Photo: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Sanford Robinson Gifford, c.1880 (Hills no. 31.1.86)
Photo: Reproduced in American Art Association sale catalogue, 1919
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. 31.1.86
Baur no. 189
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Alternate titles: possibly Portrait of the Late Sanford R. Gifford; Sanford R. Gifford, N.A.
c.1880
Oil on academy board
27 3/16 x 22 1/4 in. (69.1 x 56.5 cm)
Initialed lower right: E. J.
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Record last updated June 30, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Sanford Robinson Gifford, c.1880 (Hills no. 31.1.86)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=557 (accessed on December 2, 2024).