A genre painter from Nantucket, Johnson had more tricks up his sleeve than you might think.
Composition, for example. Unusual for the time, the composition describes the relationship. Divided in the middle by his tools, there is a straight line from the new bonnet (at the far edge of the picture) through the sustenance being prepared, through to the hands that provided both now being warmed over the fire.
[Pic from The Athenaeum]
1 comment:
In a similar manner, a personal favorite of mine "Bar-room Scene" by William Sidney Mount draws the eye down the line from the dancing vagabonds hand down to the clapping hand. The alcove and the servant by the door creates an appropriate, albeit slightly unsettling, contrast.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bar-room_Scene,_William_Sidney_Mount,_1835.jpg
-Bevan
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