The Girl I Left Behind Me

Eastman Johnson, The Girl I Left Behind Me, ca. 1872, 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

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Artwork Details

Title: The Girl I Left Behind Me
Artist: Eastman Johnson
Date: ca. 1872
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
2nd Floor
/
East Wing
Dimensions: 42 x 34 ⁷⁄₈ in. (106.7 x 88.7 cm.)
Credit Line: Museum purchase made possible in part by Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice in memory of her husband and by Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Object — written matter — book
Figure female — full length
History — United States — Civil War
Landscape — weather — wind
Object Number: 1986.79
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.79

Artwork Description

A girl stands on a promontory, her hair streaming in the wind. The path before her trails off, so she must either retrace her steps or try to find her way forward. Her wedding ring speaks to a commitment to her union and a husband who has gone to war. The split-rail fence below and the fog surrounding her speak to a world fraught with division and ambivalence. Johnson’s figure appears to be waiting for some sign of what will come next. The title comes from a Regimental song.

The Civil War and American Art, 2012

Works by this artist (6 items)

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The Lord Is My Shepherd

Artist

Eastman Johnson

Date1863

oil on fiberboard

The Girl I Left Behind Me

Artist

Eastman Johnson

Dateca. 1872

oil on canvas

Image Not Available

Bo Peep (The Peep)

Artist

Eastman Johnson

Date1872

oil on board

The Reprimand

Artist

Walter Shirlaw

Copy after Eastman Johnson

Dateca. 1880

etching and chine-colle on paper

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Director's Choice - The Girl I Left Behind Me by Eastman Johnson
Episode 7 - Podcast: The Civil War and American Art

BETSY BROUN: The young woman in this picture, called “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” by Eastman Johnson, may be the most passionate portrayal in all 19th century American art. It is even more openly romantic than Winslow Homer’s pictures of women. Everything about her is animated by an inner intensity. She combines the majesty of a classical statue with the mood of a tragic heroine. Who is she, and what inspired Johnson to paint her? We have no answers, which contributes to the mystery of the picture. We do know that Johnson thought enough of this large painting, almost 42 by 35 inches, to send it to major exhibitions in Chicago, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia in 1875 and 1876. The catalogues suggest that it was owned by the artist and not for sale. It was still in Johnson’s possession along with several other ambitious important pictures when he died in 1906.

The estate sale catalogue of 1907 described the figure as a young schoolgirl on her way to recite a lesson. The hand clutching the books, however, wears a wedding ring. Even apart from this telling detail, the way she confronts the elements on a high cliff, like a figure on a ship’s prow, suggests something much more momentous than a trip to school. The title of the painting, “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” is taken from an old Irish song that was a popular regimental ballad in the Civil War. We know that Johnson followed the Union troops of General George McClellan in the early years of the war, and he witnessed the Battle of Manassas in 1862. When the war was over, he painted a picture based on his memories, showing a black family on a horse racing for their freedom.

Perhaps “The Girl I Left Behind Me” also refers to the Civil War. Could those distant clouds be smoke from rifles and cannon firing on the fields below? Is that far off fence, in fact, a line of pickets? We have to ask if this beautiful young woman might, in fact, be Johnson’s wife. We know that he was married about six years before he painted “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” Coincidentally, the National Museum of American Art also has an 1888 painting that he made of Mrs. Johnson. The paint handling is broader, and the shading is more forceful than in “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” Still, there is a certain correspondence in the profile view, the inner intensity, and the determination of the face. It’s hard to believe, however, that this woman could be a grownup version of the beautiful young girl painted 15 years earlier.

Like a true romantic, Johnson makes nature mirror his subject’s emotions. The clouds break above this windswept hill, silhouetting the girl’s face with cameo-like perfection against the light. Her body is anchored by her feet placed exactly at right angles, while the storm swirls around her. Her cape blows open to reveal the cascade of scarlet lining, which sets off an exposed ankle but is then pinned securely beneath the heel of a boot. In every detail, she represents the struggle of passion and will.