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: A Johnson painting titled A Youthful Violinist, generally corresponding with this portrait in subject and size, was sold by the American Art Association in 1919 to David H. Taylor. If these paintings are one and the same, then either the sitter purchased his own portrait at auction or contemporary reports of the sale of the painting to Taylor were incorrect.
David H. Taylor (1873–1961). New York lawyer with the firm Taylor, Wadsworth, and Burr in New York. Graduate of Columbia University and Columbia Law School. At the time of his death, he was the oldest member of the Union Club in New York. Johnson painted a portrait of him when he was a child.
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