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.
About this work
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.
Technique & Style
Johnson employs chiaroscuro, contrasting the luminous sheen of the girl’s dress with the surrounding shadows of dark wood cabinetry. The subtle gradations of light create a three‑dimensional effect, while the soft modeling of the figures conveys a naturalistic realism characteristic of his early American genre paintings.
History & Provenance
Created in 1856, *The Pets* was executed on an academy board before being transferred to a hardboard support, a common practice for preserving works of the period. The painting entered private collections shortly after its completion and has been documented in several 19th‑century exhibition catalogues, tracing its movement through American art markets.
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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.
