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: Baur 1940 identified the subject of this drawing owned by the Princeton University Art Museum as Polly Gary. Subsequently, for reasons currently unknown, she was reidentified as Polly Carter in the catalogue of the Laura P. Hall Memorial Collection that donated the drawing. In the Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné she is identified as Polly Garey, based on the name inscribed on the verso in what appears to be Johnson's hand. See the linked image of the inscription.
Although they are presumed to depict the same sitter, the Polly Garey of this drawing owned by Princeton does not resemble the subject of the related drawing owned by the Deerfield Academy (which is inscribed "Polly Garry" in the same hand) as closely as one would expect between portraits of the same sitter by Johnson. The reasons for this are unclear and may be revealed by future research into the sitter and the circumstances of the portraits' making.
Polly Garey (life dates unknown). Also identified as Polly Gary and Polly Garry in the titles of portrait drawings by Johnson.
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