Mrs. Andrew Aitkin (Elizabeth Aiken) and her Daughter Eliza
Joshua Johnson
(American, about 1765–1830)
about 1805
Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas
DimensionsHeight x width: 81.3 × 67.9 cm (32 × 26 3/4 in.)
Credit LineCharles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund, A. Shuman Collection—Abraham Shuman Fund, M. Theresa B. Hopkins Fund, Seth K. Sweetser Fund, Emily L. Ainsley Fund, Harry Wallace Anderson Fund, Robert Jordan Fund, Gift of Jessie H. Wilkinson— Jessie H. Wilkinson Fund, Lucy Dalbiac Luard Fund, The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection, and Gallery Instructor 50th Anniversary Fund to support The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection
Accession number2019.1782
On View
On viewClassificationsPaintings
Collections
This likeness of an affectionately entwined mother and child is a rare work by the first free African American painter to earn a professional reputation. Johnson described himself in an advertisement as a “self-taught genius.” He worked almost exclusively as a portraitist, depicting Baltimore’s affluent, mostly white, merchants, officials, military officers, and several of his neighbors, among them Elizabeth Aitkin and her eight-year-old daughter. Like many of Johnson’s patrons, Elizabeth and her husband Andrew were active supporters of the abolition of slavery.
Provenance1804, commissioned from the artist by Dr. Andrew Aitkin (b. 1757 – d. 1809), Baltimore; 1809, by descent to his wife, Elizabeth Aitkin (b. 1761 – d. 1811), Baltimore; 1811, by descent to her daughter, Eliza Aitkin Crawford (b. 1798 – d. 1885), Baltimore; 1885, by descent to her son William Crawford (b. 1828 – d. 1901); 1901, by descent to his daughter, Mary Blair Crawford Briscoe (b. 1855); by descent to her son William Crawford Briscoe (b. 1892); thence by descent in the family; January 20, 2019, Important Americana sale, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 1521, to Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York; 2019, sold by Hirschl & Adler to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 25, 2019)
