When Johnson returned to the United States, he not only painted genre paintings but he also continued to paint portraits, which gave him a steady income. After 1880 Johnson turned to portraiture almost exclusively. During the 1880s and 1890s he painted businessmen, lawyers, university presidents, and three U.S. presidents from life. At times he also painted their wives and children.
He was also commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, often from photographs. These portraits by and large do not have the sparkle and active brushwork of those done from life. It seems that the demand for portraits of business and civic leaders (and members of exclusive men’s clubs) was so high that portrait painters would often make copies of each other’s paintings to satisfy the market for such images. In many instances, it has been difficult to render opinions for such paintings. —PH
Princeton inventory card: "Head and bust; bust frontal, head turned slightly to proper left. Dark suit, clerical collar; gray hair and sideburns."
Reverend Doctor James McCosh (1811–1894). Philosopher and president of Princeton University, 1868–1888. Ordained as a minister in the Church of Scotland then became a professor in logic and metaphysics at Queen’s College, Belfast, before becoming president of Princeton. Under his leadership, enrollment and faculty increased, standards of scholarship were raised, and buildings enlarged.
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
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