Lambs, Nantucket
1874
Medium
oil on board
Dimensions
overall: 48.26 × 39.69 cm (19 × 15 5/8 in.) framed: 63.18 × 54.93 × 5.24 cm (24 7/8 × 21 5/8 × 2 1/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
2012.89.3
Art Historical Context
Eastman Johnson's *Lambs, Nantucket (1874) invites visitors into a tranquil corner of 19th-century New England. This intimate oil on board painting, measuring just 19 × 15⅝ inches, captures the innocence of lambs amid the island's pastoral landscape. Johnson, a leading American genre (1824–190), was renowned for his realistic depictions of everyday rural life, often drawing from his summers on Nantucket—a Massachusetts island transitioning from its whaling heyday to a haven for artists and tourists. Painted in the post-Civil War era, the work reflects Johnson's commitment to celebrating Ameri...
About the Artist
Eastman Johnson · 1824–1906
Eastman Johnson (1824–1906) was an American painter known as "the American Rembrandt" for his richly toned genre paintings and portraits that constitute one of the most important visual records of nineteenth-century American life. Born in Lovell, Maine, he trained in Düsseldorf, The Hague — where he studied the Dutch Old Masters extensively — and Paris before returning to the United States. Johns...