Henrietta Johnston

1674 (age 54)

France

Henrietta never used any other medium than pastels, and her pastel portraits never exceeded fourteen by sixteen inches in size. Those of her works that have been located were painted between 1707 and 1720; and the majority if not all of her sitters were grandees of South Carolina in the colonial days. Apparently she had no studio, but "became an inmate of the home of each of her patrons during the time required for the commissions given. " She evidently led a busy life, painting the likenesses of the rich planters, colonial officials, military men, their wives and daughters, and the belles and beaux of the day in all their splendor of dress. Among her sitters were the aristocratic Mrs. Robert Brewton, who posed in "a surplice dress with elbow sleeves of Pompadour red, seemingly velvet, " showing "a narrow line of lace at shoulders and elbow"; Anne, daughter of Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Broughton; his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Nathaniel Broughton; Judith, Anne, and Marie Du Bosc, the three lovely daughters of Jacques Du Bosc and his wife, Marie Du Gué, Huguenots who had sought asylum in America; Colonel John Moore (1725) and his wife; and Frances Moore Bayard. Miss Johnston's work has nothing of genius in it, but it is ingenuous and of distinct historical interest. What Dr. Holmes wrote of the portrait of "Dorothy Q. " may perhaps apply to her pastels: "Hard and dry it must be confessed, Flat as a rose that has long been pressed, " yet there is something quaint and rare in these old works that one does not find equaled in the more accomplished and brilliant productions of contemporary painters

Henrietta Johnston

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artist

Background

Henrietta Johnston was born in 1674 in France in the family of French Huguenots.

Career

Henrietta never used any other medium than pastels, and her pastel portraits never exceeded fourteen by sixteen inches in size. Those of her works that have been located were painted between 1707 and 1720; and the majority if not all of her sitters were grandees of South Carolina in the colonial days. Apparently she had no studio, but "became an inmate of the home of each of her patrons during the time required for the commissions given. " She evidently led a busy life, painting the likenesses of the rich planters, colonial officials, military men, their wives and daughters, and the belles and beaux of the day in all their splendor of dress.

Among her sitters were the aristocratic Mrs. Robert Brewton, who posed in "a surplice dress with elbow sleeves of Pompadour red, seemingly velvet, " showing "a narrow line of lace at shoulders and elbow"; Anne, daughter of Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Broughton; his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Nathaniel Broughton; Judith, Anne, and Marie Du Bosc, the three lovely daughters of Jacques Du Bosc and his wife, Marie Du Gué, Huguenots who had sought asylum in America; Colonel John Moore (1725) and his wife; and Frances Moore Bayard. Miss Johnston's work has nothing of genius in it, but it is ingenuous and of distinct historical interest. What Dr. Holmes wrote of the portrait of "Dorothy Q. " may perhaps apply to her pastels: "Hard and dry it must be confessed, Flat as a rose that has long been pressed, " yet there is something quaint and rare in these old works that one does not find equaled in the more accomplished and brilliant productions of contemporary painters

Achievements

Henrietta Johnston is best remembered as the first known pastelist working in the English colonies. Only two of her portraits belong to public institutions: that of Colonel William Rhett, rated as one of the best of her works, is in the Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery, Charleston; and that of Colonel Daniell, deputy for Governor Craven of South Carolina, is in the possession of the South Carolina Historical Society.

Connections

In 1694 Henrietta married Robert Dering, the fifth son of Sir Edward Dering[citation needed], Baronet, and his wife Mary. He died in about 1704, leaving Henrietta a widow with two daughters. In 1705 she married again, this time to Anglican clergyman Gideon Johnston.

Father:: Francis de Beaulieu
Mother:: Suzanna de Beaulieu
Spouse:: Gideon Johnston
Spouse:: Robert Dering

References

History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States

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