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
Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive files, Eastman Johnson, "Robert Hewson Pruyn," b10779693, accessed April 25, 2021: "Dark eyes, gray hair, beard and mustache. Black suit, white collar and cuffs. Dark brown wooden chair, upholstered in black leather and studded with brass nails. Dark brown background."
Robert Hewson Pruyn (1815–1882). Legislator and diplomat. Elected speaker of the assembly in 1854; appointed minister to Japan by President Lincoln in 1861. For many years was president of the National Commercial Bank of Albany, New York. Married early in life to Jane Ann Lansing; father of two children.
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
- Portrait pose:
- Posthumous:
See all Period Portrait Copies by Other Artists after Johnson.