Stolen Eastman Johnson paintings recovered after 50 years
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Art dealer Brandon Levine discovered two paintings by Eastman Johnson (1824-1906) in a private estate collection and alerted Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers.
Sandra Germain, the owner of Shannon’s, determined the paintings had been stolen from New York City galleries in 1978. One painting, The Young Mother, was taken from Hirschl & Adler Galleries on May 6, 1978, while Mary and Her Lamb disappeared from the Kenneth Lux Gallery on April 27, 1978.
Johnson was an American genre painter who depicted scenes of everyday life and portraits, and he also co-founded the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Patricia Hills, a co-author of Johnson’s catalogue raisonné, noted Johnson’s paintings often showed sentimental scenes possibly inspired by his daughter. The digital format of the catalogue, containing nearly 1,500 known works, helped Germain track the paintings’ history. Germain contacted the original galleries and located the descendants of Kenneth Lux to return the recovered artwork.
The family who possessed the paintings inherited them unknowingly, having purchased them as antique collectors. The Art Loss Register, a database of lost art, and a willingness from the current owners were critical to the paintings’ return. Experts estimate the two paintings are worth around $200,000.
