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

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: St. Louis County Historical Society
[ 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. 31.1.152
William Henry Newton
Alternate title: Portrait of William Newton
1857
Locale: Superior, Wisconsin
Oil on linen
36 1/4 x 29 1/2 in. (92.1 x 74.9 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson Pinxt [?] Superior, Wi[s?] 1857 [difficult to discern under glass]
St. Louis County Historical Society, Duluth, Minnesota (78.449)
Description/Remarks

Hills, 2021: In 1856 Johnson's sister, Sarah Osgood Newton, married William H. Newton. They traveled to Superior, Wisconsin, because parcels of land were made available and there were opportunities to speculate in real estate.

Labels
Brass plate on frame: In Memory of Josephyne Peyton Hunter, Martha M. Peyton, Alice H. Peyton From H. Stewart Peyton, Jean Peyton, Col. Hamilton Murray Peyton, Virginia Peyton Fagg, Elizabeth Peyton Yoerg, Martha Peyton Whitely, Newton Howe Peyton, John Lawrence Peyton, Morrow Peyton and Thomas Turney Peyton
Provenance
William Henry Newton, Superior, Wisconsin, until 1889
Henrietta Wood Newton, his wife, until 1891
Peyton Family, Superior, Wisconsin, 1891 (by gift)
Alice and Martha Peyton, by 1978 (by descent)
St. Louis County Historical Society, Duluth, Minnesota, 1978 (by donation)
References
Wilson 1979
Wilson, Mary G. "Five New Works by Eastman Johnson." The American Art Journal, published by Kennedy Galleries, Inc. 11, no. 1 (January 1979), p. 90, fig. 6, illus., as William Henry Newton.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Newton, William Henry
Biography:

William Henry Newton. Son of Henry Newton and Harriet Walbridge Newton (portrayed by Johnson). Husband of Johnson's sister Sarah Osgood Johnson; father of Mary Elizabeth, William Henry, John, James, and Martha.

Keywords
Record last updated March 17, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "William Henry Newton, 1857 (Hills no. 31.1.152)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=606 (accessed on May 2, 2025).