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
William Henry Vanderbilt (1821–1885). Financier. “He extended the Vanderbilt system of railroads, and made large gifts to the College of Physicians and Surgeons (New York), the Metropolitan Museum, etc.” [Century Cyclopedia of Names, 1911]. Eldest of four sons of Cornelius and Sophia (Johnson) Vanderbilt. “He had continuing interest in the [Vanderbilt] University which his father had founded, providing funds for three new buildings for the campus in 1880” [Tennessee Portrait Project website].
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
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