Catalogue Entry
Johnson was thirty-six years old when the Civil War began. Although he did not serve in the Union Army, he followed the Union troops in search of subjects that would appeal to a pro-Union audience. He also painted pictures of the homefront. —PH
Hills, 2022: Although John I. H. Baur owned and annotated a copy of the catalogue of Johnson's 1907 Estate Sale, he did not include this work in his own 1940 catalogue listing; he must have obtained it after publication.
MacGibeny, 2021: E. Lawrence Abel discusses in Singing the New Nation: How Music Shaped the Confederacy, 1861–1865, 2000, the popularity of the ballad "Kathleen Mavourneen" with both the Union and Confederate sides during the Civil War. The lyrics describe the parting of a woman and her love: "It may be for years, and it may be forever." According to the Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, "mavourneen," from the Irish mo mhuirnín, means "my darling."
Although the music circulated both before the 1860s—Hills notes that Catherine Hayes helped to popularize the song during her tours in the U. S between 1851 and 1856—and after, it seems most likely that Johnson would have become interested in making a painting related to the song during the Civil War. See the linked sheet music with lyrics from the version composed by F. N. Crouch in 1840 and published in 1861.
"Signed at the lower right, E. J.
Height, 19 inches; width, 15 inches."
[Annotation: “27.50”]
- Subject matter: