The Early Scholar
c. 1865
Painter, American, 1824 - 1906
Artwork overview
-
Medium
oil on academy board on canvas
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 43.2 x 53.7 cm (17 x 21 1/8 in.)
framed: 61.6 x 71.8 x 6 cm (24 1/4 x 28 1/4 x 2 3/8 in.) -
Accession
1963.10.157
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
The artist, New York.[1] F. Reside; his estate; (sale, Silo's Galleries, New York, 21 February 1931, no. 274); Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York;[2] bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] An undated photograph reproduced in Edgar French, "An American Portrait Painter of Three Historical Epochs," World's Work 13 (1906): 123, depicts Johnson's studio, in which the NGA version of The Early Scholar can be discerned on the left wall.
[2] Provenance information is provided in undated notes, NGA curatorial files, from information conveyed by Mary Towar Bullard (Mrs. Chester) Dale in May 1959.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1937
An Exhibition of American Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, The Union League Club, New York, 1937, no. 24.
1940
Eastman Johnson, 1824-1906: An American Genre Painter, Brooklyn Museum, 1940, no. 95
1965
The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.
Bibliography
1940
L., J.W. [probably Lane, James W.] "The Brown Decades Seen by Eastman Johnson." Art News 38 (3 February 1940): 20.
1965
Paintings other than French in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 36, repro.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 74, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 184, repro.
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 72, repro.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 148-149, repro.
1987
Link, William A. "'Rough Times': Rural Education in Late-Nineteenth-Century Virginia." Virginia Cavalcade 37 (Summer 1987): color repro. 21.
1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 82, repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 212, repro.
1996
Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 373-376, color repro.
1997
Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA: One Hundred Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. St. Louis, 1997: 54-55, color repro.
Inscriptions
lower left: E.J.
Wikidata ID
Q20188663