Johnson continued drawing portraits in charcoal after he arrived in Europe. However, the currently located charcoal portrait drawings of American women friends were all executed in The Hague, and those portraits returned to the United States. Similar to the situation of the commissioned charcoal portraits of men, those works of European women remained in Europe. —PH
MacGibeny, 2022: "Countess van Stirrum" likely is a member of the Limburg Stirum family, three other portraits of whom were made by Johnson: Otto Leopold van Limburg Stirum, his daughters Woltera Geertruida and Frederika Augusta van Limburg Stirum, and his sons Wigbold Albert Willem and Hendrik van Limburg Stirum. It is possible that the subject of this portrait is Otto's first wife and mother of their children, Aleida Hermanna Christina van der Wijck, who had died in 1849, or his second wife Susanna Sophia Ortt, whom he married in 1850.
- Portrait pose:
- Portrait sitter families: