Catalogue Entry
Johnson's earliest recorded portrait drawings of women are dated 1845: his portrait of Dolley Madison that indicates the setting and one of his older sister Judith which shows head and neck only. Unlike the portraits of men, his portraits of women are softer in light-dark chiaroscuro and do not exhibit the muscular structure of the face as do those of men. Johnson consolidated his draughtsman’s talents during his sojourn in Boston, where he painted Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his circle. He took about three days to complete a charcoal portrait. The style of the time was to present portraits in oval frames.
See Technical Information on Johnson's Practices for a discussion of charcoal, black chalk, crayon, and pastel. —PH
Baur 1940: "A replica by Johnson of his original, which was sold in the Eastman Johnson Sale of 1907 ([Baur] catalogue no. 110). The latter is unlocated [now owned by the Harvard Art Museums], but bore the inscription: E. Johnson Mch. 1846, and was formerly in the collection of John Mack (reproduced in Mark Selby, 'An American Painter: Eastman Johnson,' Putnam's Monthly, vol. 2, 1907, p. 537). This replica was commissioned by Daniel Webster when Johnson refused to sell him the original."
Dorothea Dandridge Payne Todd Madison (1768–1849). Wife of James Madison, fourth president of the United States, 1809–1817 [Note that contrary to the published birth year in the National Cyclopaedia of Biography, her actual birth year was 1768, according to the National Archives].
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
