Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Image courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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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. 31.7.14
Baur no. 254
Samuel Worcester Rowse and Robert Walter Rutherford
Metropolitan Museum of Art title: The Funding Bill
Alternate titles: Robert W. Rutherford and Samuel W. Rouse; The "Funding Bill"; The Funding Bill–Portrait of Two Men; Two Men; Two Men (Samuel W. Rowse and Robert W. Rutherford); Two Men: Samuel W. Rowse (1822–1901) and Robert W. Rutherford
1881
Oil on canvas
60 1/4 x 78 1/4 in. (153 x 198.8 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson/1881 [As in other Johnson paintings of the 1880s and 1890s, the "8"s have a flat top]
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Description/Remarks
The Metropolitan Museum of Art website, accessed March 15, 2021: "In 1881, bankers and businessmen were profoundly alarmed by a bill in Congress about the refunding of the national debt. The man at the left on the sofa is Robert W. Rutherford, a relative by marriage of the painter, and the attentive listener beside him is the artist, Samuel W. Rowse. When these responsible citizens were discussing the bill in Johnson's own parlor, he saw in their appearance and attitudes the subject for a picture and made a study before doing this large, finished work."
Exhibitions
Chicago Inter-State Industrial Exposition, Chicago, 1881. (Exhibition catalogue: Chicago Inter-State 1881), no. 337, as The "Funding Bill", owner Eastman Johnson.
National Academy of Design, New York, 1881. (NAD 1881), no. 216, illus., as The Funding Bill–Portrait of Two Men.
Boston Art Club, Boston, February 11–March 11, 1882. (Boston Art Club 1882), no. 112, as The Funding Bill, owner Eastman Johnson.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Loan Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, May–October 1882, no. 168, as The Funding Bill, owner Eastman Johnson.
Exposition Universelle de 1889, Paris, May 5–November 5, 1889, no. 178, as Two Men.
World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, May 1–October 31, 1893. (World's Columbian Exposition 1893), no. 623, as Two Men, 1881.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Loan Collection, 1894, no. 117, as Two Men, owner Eastman Johnson.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Loan Collections, 1895, no. 117, as Two Men, owner Eastman Johnson.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Retrospective of American Paintings Loan Collection, May–November 1896, no. 410, as Two Men, owner Eastman Johnson.
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906, January 18, 1939–February 26, 1940. (Exhibition catalogue: Baur 1940), no. 254, b/w illus., Pl. XXXVI, as Two Men (Samuel W. Rowse and Robert W. Rutherford).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Life in America: A Special Loan Exhibition of Paintings Held during the Period of the New York World's Fair, April 24–October 29, 1939, no. 255, illus., p. 194, owner The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 19th-Century America: Paintings and Sculpture, 1970, no. 146, b/w illus., as The Funding Bill.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 104, b/w illus., p. 115, as The Funding Bill. Traveled to: The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, June 7–July 22, 1972; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, August 15–September 30, 1972; Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, October 20–December 3, 1972.
References
Illustrated Catalogue of the Art Hall of the Inter-State Industrial Exposition of Chicago. Chicago: Rand, McNally, & Co., 1881. Exhibition catalogue (1881 Chicago Inter-State Industrial Exposition), p. 57, no. 337, as The "Funding Bill", For sale.
"Science and Art: The Academy of Design." The Christian Union (New York), April 13, 1881, p. 358.
New York: National Academy of Design, 1881. Exhibition catalogue (1881 NAD), no. 216, as The Funding Bill–Portrait of Two Men.
Boston Art Club. Illustrated Catalogue of the Twenty-Fifth Exhibition of the Boston Art Club, of Oil Paintings. Boston: Mills and Knight Company, 1882. Exhibition catalogue (1882 Boston Art Club), p. 13, no. 112, as The Funding Bill.
Loan Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, in the West Galleries and the Grand Hall. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1882. Exhibition catalogue, p. 19, no. 168, as The Funding Bill, "Portraits of two men." Owner Eastman Johnson.
World's Columbian Exposition. Revised Catalogue, Department of Fine Arts. Chicago: W. B. Gonkey Company, 1893. Exhibition catalogue (1893 Columbian Exposition), p. 61, no. 853, as Two Men.
French, Edgar. "An American Portrait Painter of Three Historical Epochs." World's Work 13, no. 2 (December 1906), pp. 8320, 8323, illus., as Two Men.
Walton, William. "Eastman Johnson, Painter." Scribner's Magazine 40 (September 1906), p. 274, as Two Men.
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 12, addendum “Paintings by Eastman Johnson," as Robert W. Rutherford and Samuel W. Rouse.
Catalogue of Paintings. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931, p. 191.
Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), pp. 54, 71, no. 254, illus. Pl. XXXVI, as Two Men (Samuel W. Rowse and Robert W. Rutherford).
19th Century America: Paintings and Sculpture. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1970. Exhibition catalogue, n.p., no. 146, as The Funding Bill.
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), p. 115, no. 104, illus., as The Funding Bill.
Douglass, Julie M. "Lifetime Exhibition History." In Eastman Johnson: Painting America, by Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 263, 264, 265.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): 1970 Summer; 2016-11-03
Examination notes: 2016-11-03: Case 12Q in Study Center. Left man’s hand in middle. Coarsely painted; chunky splats of paint. Like Sargent, EJ paints light on objects—not the objects, e.g. highlights of button; studs on leather chairs.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Rowse, Samuel Worcester
Biography:
Samuel Worcester Rowse (1822–1901). American lithographer, illustrator, and painter in Boston. Lifelong friend of Johnson.
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
Sitter: Rutherford, Robert Walter
Biography:
Robert Walter Rutherford (1818–1904). Brother-in-law of Johnson’s wife, Elizabeth Williams Buckley Johnson (husband of her sister Anna Lawrence Buckley, m. 1848).
Related work
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Rowse, Samuel Worcester
Rutherford, Robert W.
Keywords
- Portrait pose
: - Full length »
- Group »
- Portrait »
- Seated »
- Inscription type
:
Record last updated October 7, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Samuel Worcester Rowse and Robert Walter Rutherford, 1881 (Hills no. 31.7.14)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=708 (accessed on April 26, 2025).