Two paintings signed by Eastman Johnson, which disappeared from New York almost fifty years ago, have been found in Connecticut and returned to the families that legitimately owned them. The case of the stolen paintings by Eastman Johnson highlights how much work of verification, historical memory, and collaboration among players in the art market is needed to bring home works that were believed to be lost forever.
Key points
- Two works by Eastman Johnson, stolen in 1978 from New York galleries, have been found in Connecticut.
- They are “Mary and Her Lamb” (1877) and “The Young Mother” (ca. 1872-73), which disappeared from Kenneth Lux Gallery and Hirschl & Adler Galleries, respectively.
- Antiques dealer Brandon Levine identified them this year in a collection belonging to an inherited estate.
- Auction house Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers and the Art Loss Register confirmed their identity and their status as stolen works.
- The total value of the two recovered paintings could exceed $200,000.
The discovery in Connecticut after almost 50 years
Two canvases attributed to Eastman Johnson (1824-1906) have resurfaced after decades, in circumstances that recall how exposed the art market is to long periods of uncertainty regarding the provenance of works. The news was released by the Milford auction house Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers, which played a direct role in the recovery process.
The discovery in a family collection
The two works were intercepted by Brandon Levine, an antiques dealer who identified them this year within a collection belonging to an inherited estate. Suspecting that they were authentic works by Johnson, Levine sent photographs to Sandra Germain, owner of Shannon’s, thus initiating the process that led to the recognition of the works as stolen.
Details about the stolen works
The two canvases are “Mary and Her Lamb”, dated 1877, and “The Young Mother”, created around 1872-73. Both had been missing from the legal market for nearly half a century, a span of time that in the field of stolen artworks often makes recovery practically impossible.
The 1978 thefts and provenance verification
The two paintings were taken in 1978 from two New York galleries, in an incident that remained unsolved for decades. Only the recent discovery made it possible to reconstruct with certainty what had happened.
The 1978 thefts in New York galleries
“Mary and Her Lamb” was stolen from the Kenneth Lux Gallery, while “The Young Mother” disappeared from the Hirschl & Adler Galleries, also in New York. From that moment on, all traces of the two works were lost, until their reappearance in a private collection in Connecticut.
The role of Shannon’s and verification via the Art Loss Register
On Germain’s advice, Levine consulted the online catalogue raisonné of Eastman Johnson, curated by Patricia Hills and Abigael MacGibeny, where both works were listed as stolen. The decisive confirmation came from the Art Loss Register, the international database that collects reports of art theft, which was consulted to independently verify the status of the two canvases. Only after this step did Levine and Germain contact the family that had inherited the paintings, obtaining their willingness to return them.
Return to the rightful owners and estimated value
Once the agreement for restitution was obtained, Sandra Germain took on the task of tracing the rightful owners of the two works, a step that was not simple considering the nearly fifty years that had passed since the theft. At Hirschl & Adler Galleries, owner Stuart Feld described the painting “as if it had been stolen the day before,” a sign of how the memory of such a loss remains vivid over time for those who work in the field.
It was more complicated to identify the heirs connected to the Kenneth Lux Gallery: Germain managed to trace Daniel Lux, son of founder Kenneth Lux. According to Germain herself, the family proved to be “super cooperative,” in a case that saw “everyone do the right thing,” a circumstance that, she emphasized, does not always occur in similar situations.
From an economic standpoint, Germain estimated that the total value of the two recovered works could exceed $200,000. A useful point of comparison comes from another work by Johnson, “Child and Lamb” (1875), a painting similar in subject and size to “Mary and Her Lamb,” which in 2024 was sold by Bonham’s for $108,000. This type of recovery is not only about historical justice for the robbed owners: every work that returns to the market with clarified provenance gains an insurance and commercial value very different from that of a work still listed as stolen, with direct effects on how collectors and auction houses can handle it in the future.
Eastman Johnson, the market’s “American Rembrandt”
Eastman Johnson was considered in his time one of the foremost portrait and genre painters in the United States, to the point of earning the nickname “American Rembrandt.” His output is known for its realism, evident in works such as “A Ride for Liberty–The Fugitive Slaves” (ca. 1862), which the artist stated he based on an episode he actually observed near the Manassas battlefield during the American Civil War.
This episode confirms how Johnson’s works continue to command significant sums in the 19th-century American art market: the sale of “Child and Lamb” for $108,000 in 2024 shows that collectors’ interest in this artist remains strong, and makes the return to circulation of two authentic canvases that had been absent from every sales catalogue for nearly half a century even more significant.
FAQ
Which Eastman Johnson paintings have been recovered?
The recovered works are “Mary and Her Lamb” (1877) and “The Young Mother” (ca. 1872-73).
How were the stolen paintings identified and verified?
Antiques dealer Brandon Levine identified them and consulted Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers and the artist’s online catalogue raisonné; their status as stolen works was then confirmed by the Art Loss Register.
Who are the rightful owners of the recovered paintings?
The rightful owners are Stuart Feld and the heirs of Kenneth Lux, including his son Daniel Lux.
What is the estimated market value of the recovered paintings?
The total value could exceed $200,000, considering that a similar work by Johnson was sold for $108,000 in a recent auction.
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