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
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: Although the title of this portrait was The Countess of Suffolk in the 1907 Sale of Johnson's estate, the subject has since been identified as May Valentina Stern. This painting appears to be a study for the finished portrait of Stern dated 1886. The Countess of Suffolk was, instead, Marguerite "Daisy" Leiter, also portrayed as a child by Johnson.
"Signed at the lower left, E. J.
Height, 13 inches; width, 10 inches."
[Annotation: “Out”]
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.
- Portrait pose: