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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
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31.7 U.S. Portraits, Groups
Some of Johnson’s most memorable paintings were his small scale compositions of family groups. Such works as these, traditionally called “conversation pieces,” trace their pedigree to England and seventeenth-century Holland. They were commissioned group portraits of wealthy patrons as they wanted to be seen, usually surrounded by sumptuous furnishing and a coterie of family and friends. —PH
Hills no. 31.7.5
The Brown Family
1869
Oil on paper on canvas
23 1/4 x 28 1/2 in. (59.1 x 72.4 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson 1869
Provenance
Eliza Maria and James Brown, New York, until 1870
James Clifton Brown and Amelia Brown, Faygate, England, their grandson and his wife, December 1870 (by gift)
Howard Clifton Brown, Faygate, England, their son
Elizabeth Clifton Brown Calvert, Faygate, England, his daughter
Katherine and Ion Garnett-Orme, Cheriton, England, her sister and brother-in-law, by c. 1950
Peter H. Davidson & Co., New York, by 1978
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., November 15, 1978 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1980 Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes
Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, La Pintura de Los Estados Unidos de Museos de la Ciudad de Washington, November 18, 1980–January 4, 1981. (Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes 1980), no. 23, color illus.1988 Kunsthaus
Kunsthaus, Zurich, 1988–89, no. 55.1988 Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg
Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg, Berlin, Bilder aus der Neuen Welt: Amerikanische Malerei des 18. und 19. Jahrhundts: Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Thyssen-Bornemisza und Museen der Vereinigten Staaten, November 22, 1988–February 5, 1989. (Orangerie des Schlosses and Kunsthaus 1988). Traveled to: Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, March 3–May 15, 1989.References
Kouwenhoven 1968
Kouwenhoven, John A. Partners in Banking: An Historical Portrait of a Great Private Bank, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, 1818–1968. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968, p. 151.Gustafson 1979
Gustafson, Eleanor H. "Museum Accessions." Antiques 116 (December 1979), p. 1286, illus.Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes 1980
La Pintura de Los Estados Unidos de Museos de la Cuidad de Washington. Mexico City: Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, 1980. Exhibition catalogue (1980 Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes), p. 86.National Gallery of Art 1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1980, p. 183, illus.Wilmerding 1980
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1980, pp. 12, 15, 72, no. 17, illus.Southgate 1981
Southgate, M. Therese, ed. Journal of the American Medical Association 245 (January 1981), cover, p. 349, illus.Williams 1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. Maplewood, NJ: Hammond, 1981, pp. 150-151, 156, illus.Brown 1983
Brown, Milton W. One Hundred Masterpieces of American Painting from Public Collections in Washington, D.C. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983, pp. 90, 91, illus.Walker 1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984, p. 557, no. 847, illus.Lubin 1985
Lubin, David M. Act of Portrayal: Eakins, Sargent, James. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985, pp. 117, 118, illus.Clark 1988
Clark, Henry Nichols Blake. Francis W. Edmonds: American Master in the Dutch Tradition. Fort Worth, TX: Amon Carter Museum, 1988. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 104, 105, illus.Orangerie des Schlosses and Kunsthaus 1988
Bilder aus der Neuen Welt: Amerikanische Malerei des 18. un 19. Jahrhundts. Berlin: Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg, and Kunsthaus, Zurich, 1988. Exhibition catalogue (1988 Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg), no. 55.Wilmerding 1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1988, pp. 18, 82, no. 18, illus.Simpson, Mills, and Saville 1989
Simpson, Marc, Sally Mills, and Jennfier Saville. The American Canvas: Paintings from the Collection of The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1989, p. 112.National Gallery of Art 1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1992, p. 213, illus.Simpson 1994
Simpson, Marc. The Rockefeller Collection of American Art at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. New York: Abrams, 1994. Exhibition catalogue (1994 FAMSF), p. 177.Davis 1996
Davis, John. "Children in the Parlor: Eastman Johnson's 'Brown Family' and the Post-Civil War Luxury Interior." American Art (Washington, D.C.) 10, no. 2 (Summer 1996).Kelly 1998
Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1998, pp. 376–82, illus.Sitter Biography
Sitter: Brown, James
Biography:
James Brown. Prominent banker and shipping magnate. Seated in the parlor (designed by famous cabinet maker and decorator Leon Marcotte) of his University Place home with his wife Eliza Coe Brown and their grandchild, William Adams Brown. They would later move uptown to Park Avenue. A photograph from the 1850s of Mrs. Brown in this same pose may have been used by Johnson to work out the composition [Hirschl & Adler, Faces and Places: Changing Images of 19th Century America, 1972].
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Keywords
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Record last updated February 28, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "The Brown Family, 1869 (Hills no. 31.7.5)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=704 (accessed on May 8, 2024).