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The Girl I Left Behind Me
ca. 1872
Eastman Johnson
Born: Lovell, Maine 1824
Died: New York, New York 1906
oil on canvas
42 x 34 7/8 in. (106.7 x 88.7 cm.)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Museum purchase made possible in part by Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice in memory of her husband and by Ralph Cross Johnson
1986.79
Smithsonian American Art Museum
1st Floor, West Wing
Eastman Johnson imagined a soldier's wife standing on the hill where they parted. The crimson lining of her wind-whipped cape suggests their passionate love for one another, while her wedding ring, appearing almost at the center of the painting, ensures the young bride's devotion. Johnson had witnessed the Battle of Manassas in 1862, and the painting's title refers to an old Irish song that became a popular regimental ballad during the Civil War. His viewers might have recalled the lyrics:
My mind her full image retains
Whether asleep or awaken'd
hope to see my jewel again
For her my heart is breaking.
Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
Keywords
Figure female
History - United States - Civil War
Landscape - weather - wind
State of being - emotion - fear
painting
paint - oil
fabric - canvas
About Eastman Johnson
Born: Lovell, Maine 1824 Died: New York, New York 1906
More works in the collection by
Eastman Johnson
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