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
MacGibeny, 2022: The subject of this portrait, originally known only as Head of a Woman, has been identified as Frances Leonard Rathbone based on her resemblance to a portrait of Rathbone made by Johnson during the same time period.
Frances Amelia Leonard Rathbone (1827–1852). Daughter of Silas Leonard of Augusta, Maine; wife of William Penn Rathbone of Providence, Rhode Island.