Catalogue Entry
Johnson’s portraits of children and adolescents were often part of a larger commission to paint whole families. In some instances, the children had died and their parents wished to have a reminder of their loved ones. —PH
MacGibeny, 2021: Although the title of this portrait was Daisy Leiter, Countess of Suffolk in John I. H. Baur’s 1940 catalogue of Johnson’s work, the subject has since been reidentified as May Valentina Stern. This painting is related to the finished portrait of Stern dated 1886. Marguerite "Daisy" Leiter, later the Countess of Suffolk, was a different child portrayed by Johnson.
May Valentina Stern (later Harlow) (1882–1969). According to Swann Auctions, the sitter was the daughter of Issac and Virginia (Michels) Stern; Mr. Stern was the head of Stern Brothers, New York City's grandest Gilded Age department store. A portrait of Mrs. Stern is owned by the Museum of the City of New York. May had a sister, Lucille Wertheim (Stern) (1884–1980), who likely lived in the Netherlands; and a brother, Robert, who modified his name to Stearns (1888–1954) and was the cofounder of the investment bank Bear Stearns.
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