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

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Photo: Lyndhurst, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Jason (
Inscription
Photo: Lyndhurst, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Jason (
Installation of National Trust for Historic Preservation, Lyndhurst Museum Interpretation of Jay Gould’s Office, Photo by Jack Boucher for HABS (Historic American Building Survey), 1971
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. 31.1.90
Jason ("Jay") Gould
Alternate title: Portrait of Mr. Gould
c.1896
Oil on canvas
29 x 23 in. (73.7 x 58.4 cm) (sight)
Initialed lower right: E.J.
Provenance
Helen Miller Gould, daughter of the sitter, until at least 1933 (by commission)
Anna Gould, Duchess of Talleyrand, youngest daughter of the sitter
Lyndhurst, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Tarrytown, New York, 1964
References
New York Times 1895
"Lenox." New York Times, August 18, 1895, p. 3: "The artists [sic], Eastman Johnson, returned to Lenox tonight from a brief visit to New-York. He has just finished a portrait of George Cabot Ward for the Union League Club. It is considered one of the best of his portrait paintings. He is at present painting a picture of the late Jay Gould for the Gould family".
Kennedy Galleries 1920
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 11, addendum "Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as Jay Gould].
Levine 2006
Levine, Ronnie. "The Artist's Eye, Paintings at Lyndhurst." River Journal Online (November 17, 2006).
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Gould, Jason ("Jay")
Biography:

Jason (“Jay”) Gould (1836–1892). American railroad magnate and financial speculator; “one of the most turbulent, controversial, and significant business careers in the nineteenth century…Gould made his first fortune with his masterful understanding of finance during the Civil War” before gaining notoriety through opposition to Cornelius Vanderbilt over the Erie Railroad. Revived and made profitable the Union Pacific Railroad, as well as many other ventures. “...Gould’s wide-ranging influence on business, from the financial markets to modern management techniques, helped shape the modern American economy” [National Portrait Gallery website, accessed August 8, 2014].

White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.

Gould, Jason ("Jay")
Keywords
Record last updated July 22, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Jason ("Jay") Gould, c.1896 (Hills no. 31.1.90)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=561 (accessed on March 28, 2024).