Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné

Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager

Catalogue Entry

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[ 02.0 Euro Landscape ]

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02.0 Euro Landscape

Johnson made few landscapes in Europe and later in America. His skill was as a figure painter, although often landscape elements give context to his figures. —PH

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Hills no. 2.0.1

Peasants on the Rhine

Alternate titles: Drachenfels; The Peasants of the Rhine

1850

Locale: Düsseldorf, Germany

Oil

35 x 25 in. (88.9 x 63.5 cm)

Present whereabouts unknown

Description / Remarks

American Art-Union sale catalogue, 1852: "Two peasant lovers are conversing, seated near a ruined wall. A woman and child stand on the hill-side, overlooking the valley beyond. This picture was painted in Düsseldorf, where the artist is studying."

Letter from Eastman Johnson, then in Düsseldorf, to Andrew Warner, corresponding secretary of the American Art-Union, October 10, 1850: "I am therefore obliged to send pictures home for sale rather earlier in my practice of oils than I should otherwise do. The largest I call 'Peasants on the Rhine' it being the costume &c & indicative of the kind of scenery somewhat farther up in this vicinity. The small one 'The Junior Partner' which names I forgot to write on the backs. The price I set at $175. for both, which is less than I was advised to ask by the others here."

Provenance

[American Art-Union, New York, 1851, no. 11]

[American Art-Union, New York, 1852, no. 90 (as The Peasants of the Rhine)]

Patrick L. Hearn, December 15, 1852 (by purchase)

Present whereabouts unknown

Exhibitions

1851 American Art-Union

American Art-Union, New York, 1851, no. 11.

1852 American Art-Union

American Art-Union, New York, Pictures and Other Works of Art, the Property of the Art-Union, December 15–17, 1852, no. 90, as The Peasants of the Rhine.

References

Johnson, Eastman 1850

Eastman Johnson to Andrew Warner (American Art-Union), October 10, 1850, BV American Art-Union—Letters from Artists, New-York Historical Society. Transcribed by Patricia Hills, "I am therefore obliged to send pictures home for sale rather earlier in my practice of oils than I should otherwise do. The largest I call 'Peasants on the Rhine' it being the costume &c & indicative of the kind of scenery somewhat farther up in this vicinity. The small one 'The Junior Partner' which names I forgot to write on the backs. The price I set at $175 for both…"

American Art-Union 1852

"Catalogue of Pictures and Other Works of Art, the Property of the American Art-Union. To Be Sold at Auction by David Austen, Jr. at the Gallery, 497 Broadway, on Wednesday, the 15th, Thursday 16th, and Friday 17th, December, 1852. At 11 O’Clock, A. M." Bulletin of the American Art-Union (New York) 10 (1852). Sale catalogue, n.p. (3), no. 90, as The Peasants of the Rhine.

Walton 1906

Walton, William. "Eastman Johnson, Painter." Scribner's Magazine 40 (September 1906), p. 266.

Cowdrey 1953b

Cowdrey, Mary Bartlett. American Academy of Fine Arts and American Art Union. Vol. II. New York: The New-York Historical Society, 1953, p. 210, no. 90: "Two peasant lovers are conversing, seated near a ruined wall. A woman and child stand on the hill-side, overlooking the valley beyond. This picture was painted in Dusseldorf, where the artist is studying," $155. Hearn [buyer]. 1851, no. 11.

Record last updated May 19, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.

Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Peasants on the Rhine, 1850 (Hills no. 2.0.1)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=6 (accessed on April 25, 2024).