Two oil paintings by the American artist Eastman Johnson (1824-1906) have been recovered nearly 50 years after they were stolen in New York City.
The Long Island-based art dealer Brandon Levine spotted the works in a private estate collection and, after they sparked his interest, contacted the Connecticut-based Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers. Shannon’s owner, Sandra Germain, confirmed that both paintings had been reported stolen in 1978 and made sure they were returned to their rightful owners.
Johnson was a genre painter known for his American scenes. Born in Maine, he spent six years in Europe beginning in 1849, where he studied the Dutch masters. After returning to the US, Johnson made portraits and depictions of American life and exhibited them widely. He was also a founding trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1870.
“Johnson was a leading genre artist in the 1860s and captured everyday scenes of how people thought life could be,” says Patricia Hills, co-author with Abigael MacGibeny of Johnson’s catalogue raisonné, which includes nearly 1,500 known works by the artist. “Coming from a family of abolitionists, Johnson also painted major pictures of Black people, including some made during the Civil War.”
One of Johnson’s paintings, The Young Mother (around 1873), was stolen on 6 May 1978 from Hirschl & Adler Galleries. The second, Mary and Her Lamb (1877), was reported missing on 27 April 1978 from the since-closed Kenneth Lux Gallery. There appears to have been no connection between the thefts. The two small-format paintings represent a more intimate side of Johnson’s practice beyond his main body of work.
“The topics portrayed are sentimental, likely inspired by Eastman’s daughter Ethel (born in 1870), whom he doted on,” Hills tells The Art Newspaper. She notes that interest in Johnson, overshadowed by other 19th-century artists like Winslow Homer, has increased since the 1970s.
Germain’s research into the works was key to their return, aided by Johnson’s catalogue raisonné and the Art Loss Register—the world’s largest private database of lost, stolen and looted art.
“The fact that, unlike other catalogues, Eastman Johnson’s catalogue is digital, allows updates on works and their whereabouts,” Hills says. The catalogue entries for both paintings have already been edited to reflect their return.
“In our experience, it is not unusual for artwork to be recovered after 50 or more years,” says James Ratcliffe, the director of the Art Loss Register, “since it may be the first time it reappears—often from the wall of a private home.”
A willingness to return the works was crucial. “The family that had inherited the paintings was shocked,” Germain says. “Their parents were antique collectors who had purchased these paintings not knowing their history.” Collaboration was also key, as Germain contacted Hirschl & Adler and tracked down the descendants of Kenneth Lux—who had died in 2020—to return the paintings.
“This is an excellent example of art-world colleagues doing their due diligence to collaboratively solve problems,” says Elizabeth Feld, the managing director of Hirschl & Adler. She adds that the gallery was “thrilled” by the recovery.
Experts at Shannon’s estimate the two works could be worth a total of $200,000 based on comparable works. “The best part of the story is not only that the paintings have been returned, but that everyone did the right thing,” Germain says. “And that is not always the case in the art world.”
