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Preview image of work. charoal and pastel, with traces of graphite on brown wove paper,  Portrait of Charles Appleton Packard 784
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1902.153

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Portrait of Charles Appleton Packard

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Artist

Eastman Johnson (Lowell, Maine, 7/29/1824 - 4/5/1906, New York City, New York)

Title

Portrait of Charles Appleton Packard

Creation Date

1856

Century

19th-20th century

Dimensions

24 1/2 in. x 18 7/16 in. (62.23 cm x 46.83 cm)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

charoal and pastel, with traces of graphite on brown wove paper

Credit Line

Gift of Dr. Charles Appleton Packard, Class of 1848

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1902.153

A Maine native, Eastman Johnson excelled in portraiture. He left for Europe in 1849 and received stellar training in Germany and then at The Hague. His work reveals his successful assimilation of the style and techniques of Rembrandt and other seventeenth-century Dutch masters, whom he admired. Johnson returned to America in 1855. During a studio visit by his friend Charles Packard, Johnson sketched his portrait while Packard examined one of his sketchbooks from The Hague; the walls are lined with canvases and a palette. With his deft use of dark tones in both the charcoal and brown paper, highlighted with white pastel, Johnson created a masterful, three-dimensional work. On presenting the drawing to Bowdoin, Packard recalled Johnson’s offer to take the portrait, perhaps because Packard was able “to secure for him some valuable commissions for portraits. . . . In a day or two the sketch was complete.”

Keywords: portraits   reading   seated   man   Bowdoin College   Portrait   Maine Art   American art   art in art   artist's studio   dark   doctor   highlight   Rembrandt influence