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Eastman Johnson

The Early Scholar, c. 1865

Not on View

Medium

oil on academy board on canvas

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.)

Credit Line

Chester Dale Collection

Accession Number

1963.10.157

Artists / Makers

Eastman Johnson (painter) American, 1824 - 1906

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower left: E.J.

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

Dale, Chester
Johnson, Eastman
Reside, F.
Silo's

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.

Technical Summary

The support consists of a thin (0.3 cm) cardboard panel mounted to a medium-weight, coarsely woven fabric. The ground layer is thin and buff-colored and is largely covered by a warm, transparent brown glaze that serves as the middle tone of the painting. Thicker applications of the same brown paint create the darker shadows. Extensive underdrawing, probably pencil, is visible throughout. The highlighted areas and the lighter background region appear to have been painted last, with a thicker, more opaque paint. The thick coat of varnish is milky and has discolored. The painting is extensively abraded across its entire surface. This abrasion has been inpainted. Many of the major lines of the composition have been reinforced by inpainting.

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.

1980: 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.