Artwork
The Pets
The Pets is an oil painting by the American Folk Art artist Eastman Johnson. It dates from 1856 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower left: E. Johnson. 1856
About this work
Technique & Style
Originally classified simply as a painting, the piece was historically titled Girl with Pets when it entered the Corcoran Gallery of Art collection in 1869.
Eastman Johnson's The Pets, created in 1856, is an oil painting executed on academy board that was later transferred to hardboard. The work measures 63.5 cm in height and 73.03 cm in width. Originally classified simply as a painting, the piece was historically titled Girl with Pets when it entered the Corcoran Gallery of Art collection in 1869.
The transfer of the original academy board support to a hardboard panel represents a specific conservation or mounting intervention in the object's material history.
History & Provenance
The painting was commissioned or acquired by William Wilson Corcoran, who gifted it to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington on 10 May 1869 as _Girl with Pets_. The work entered the Corcoran’s collection under that title and remained there until the gallery’s holdings were transferred to the National Gallery of Art in 2014. The painting’s creation date is recorded as 1856, aligning with Eastman Johnson’s early career focus on intimate genre scenes.
The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., having entered its collection through the Corcoran Gallery of Art. It was originally owned by William Wilson Corcoran, who gifted the work titled 'Girl with Pets' to the Corcoran Gallery of Art on 10 May 1869. The piece was later acquired by the National Gallery of Art in 2014 following the dissolution of the Corcoran.
Eastman Johnson created the work in 1856, which features dimensions of 63.5 cm in height and 73.03 cm in width, as recorded in the institution's cataloging data.
Overview
Eastman Johnson’s 1856 work The Pets presents a quiet interior scene rendered in oil on a transferred academy board now mounted on hardboard. A young girl in a pale dress sits on a simple wooden chair, her bare feet touching the floor, while a parrot and a cat occupy the surrounding space. The composition is restrained, emphasizing everyday domesticity.
Subject & Meaning
The painting captures a moment of stillness between child and animal companions. The girl’s calm posture, the perched parrot, and the cat observing from a fishbowl suggest a gentle interaction that reflects mid‑nineteenth‑century middle‑class domestic life, where pets were both companions and symbols of genteel leisure.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jonathan Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824 – April 5, 1906) was an American painter and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, with his name inscribed at its entrance.
