The Negro Boy

Johnson’s picture of a young boy playing the flute ranks as one of his most intimate and engaging paintings of African-Americans dating from the 1860s. These works followed the critical and popular success of his painting Life in the South (1859, New-York Historical Society), upon its showing at the National Academy’s annual exhibition of 1859.

After studying at the Düsseldorf Academy from 1848-1851, Johnson spent a year living in The Hague in Holland , where he closely studied the Dutch and Flemish masters, including Rembrandt . In the years ahead Johnson would become one of the greatest figure painters of his generation.