{{short description|American lawyer}}
thumb|John G. Johnson, {{circa|1913}} '''John Graver Johnson''' (1841, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – April 13, 1917, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American corporate lawyer and art collector. The Philadelphia law firm that he founded in 1863 continues under the name Saul Ewing. His collection of nearly 1,300 paintings forms the core of early European works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
== Career == The son of a blacksmith, he attended Philadelphia public schools, and apprenticed in the law offices of Benjamin & Murray Rush. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in February 1863, and served briefly in the American Civil War. He had an extraordinary memory, reportedly memorizing Shakespeare plays as a youth, and reciting extended citations of law in the courtroom.<ref name="NYTobit">[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/04/15/102333280.pdf Obituary, ''The New York Times'', April 15, 1917.]</ref>
He argued 168 cases before the United States Supreme Court, beginning in 1884. He represented the Standard Oil Company, the Sugar Trust, the American Tobacco Company, and the Northern Securities Company; and was counsel for J. P. Morgan & Company, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the New York Central Railroad, the Baldwin Locomotive Company, the United States Steel Corporation, the Amalgamated Copper Company, the American Distilleries Company, and many other corporations and banks.<ref name="NYTobit"/>
Johnson declined offers to be nominated to the United States Supreme Court from Presidents James Garfield and Grover Cleveland.<ref name="NYTobit"/> President William McKinley unsuccessfully sought him to become U.S. Attorney General.<ref name="NYTobit"/>
In an April 15, 1917 obituary, ''The New York Times'' called him, "the greatest lawyer in the English-speaking world," and, "probably less known to the general public in proportion to his importance than any other man in the United States."<ref name="NYTobit"/>
== Art collecting == [[File:Rogier van der Weyden, Netherlandish (active Tournai and Brussels) - The Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist Mourning - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Crucifixion Diptych'' (c. 1460), Rogier van der Weyden. The Philadelphia Museum of Art describes this as the "greatest Old Master painting in the Museum."<ref>Crawford Luber, Katherine. ''Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections'', 1995. 167</ref>]] Johnson amassed one of the finest art collections in the United States. Relying on his own judgment and study, he concentrated on early-Renaissance Italian primitives, Spanish, Flemish, and Dutch paintings. He also bought works by artists who were his contemporaries, including Eduard Charlemont, Gustave Courbet, Mariano Fortuny, T. Alexander Harrison, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, and James Whistler. He made annual trips to Europe, and wrote a short memoir: ''Sight-Seeing in Berlin and Holland among Pictures'' (1892).
An assessment of the collection from 1914: {{blockquote|Undoubtably the rarest works and those upon which an orthodox collection rests most securely for its prestige are to be found among the Italian paintings. There are Pesellino's ''Virgin and Child Between Two Saints'', an early Corregio, a portrait by Botticelli of extreme historical as well as aesthetic interest, and a beautiful predella by that master recounting the legend of Mary Magdalen, a magnificently dramatic ''Pietà'' by Crivelli, and a decorative pair of panels by Cima da Conegliano, Carpaccio's tender ''Story of Alcione'', a ''Virgin and Child'' by Giovanni Bellini, a ''Magdalen Reading'' by Luca Signorelli, authentic specimens of Basaiti and Catena, and other paintings that in more than one instance represent masters to be found in but few of the great European galleries.<br><br> From these wide-eyed Italian Primitives one turns, however, with a quickened spirit to the Flemish and Dutch pictures, of which the collection possesses remarkable examples. Among these Pieter Breughel's two characteristic compositions, and a noble array of pictures by Jan Steen, more than any other American collection possesses, claim particular attention.<ref>Johnson Collection, ''The New York Times'', June 7, 1914.</ref>}} [[File:Botticelli, predella con storie di maria maddalena, 1425 ca, da pala delle convertite 01.JPG|thumb|600px|center|''Legend of the Magdalen Predella'' (c. 1425), Sandro Botticelli.]]
== Family == thumb|John G. Johnson Collection Museum (center), 510 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA. Part of Johnson's residence is visible at far right. In 1875, he married Ida Powel Morrell, a widow with three small children. They had no children together. The family lived at 506 South Broad Street, and he later bought the adjacent house to store his art collection.
== Bequest == In his Will, Johnson left the collection to the City of Philadelphia with the provision that it be exhibited at 510 South Broad Street. A proposal to build a museum on the new Benjamin Franklin Parkway to house the collection was considered and abandoned.<ref>[http://digital.library.temple.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15037coll5/id/1170 Proposed John G. Johnson Gallery], from Temple University Libraries.</ref> Following six years in storage,<ref>"Johnson Art Has Cost Philadelphia a Million—Public Has Yet to See It," ''American Art News'', vol. 20, no. 39 (August 19, 1922), p. 1.[https://www.jstor.org/stable/25590001]</ref> the City opened the house museum in November 1923, but the first two floors provided only enough room to display 275 works. More than 1,000 works were stored on the upper floors or in rented space elsewhere. In 1931, the unexhibited works were moved into storage at the newly built Philadelphia Museum of Art. The City's fire marshal subsequently found 510 South Broad Street not to be fireproof, and in June 1933 the 275 exhibited works were "temporarily" transferred to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.<ref>[http://www.leagle.com/decision/197019851PaDampC2d147_1170 Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, ''Johnson Estate'', September 24, 1970.] from Leagle.</ref> The City demolished the Broad Street house in the late-1950s to build a medical clinic.<ref>George E. Thomas, et al., ''Frank Furness: The Complete Works'' (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), p. 169.</ref>
Johnson's art was exhibited as a separate collection within the Philadelphia Museum of Art for more than 50 years. In the 1980s legal approval was granted for the Museum to integrate the works into its full collection. The current 100-year loan of the collection lasts until 2083.<ref>[http://www.philadelphiabar.org/page/TPLWinter07Johnson?appNum=2 "John G. Johnson, Giant of the Philadelphia Bar,"] from Philadelphia Bar Association.</ref> {{clear}}
== Selected works from the Johnson Collection == ===Italian paintings=== <gallery> File:Pietro Lorenzetti, Italian (active Siena, Assisi, Arezzo, and Florence), first documented 1306, last documented 1345 - Virgin and Child Enthroned and Donor, Angels - Google Art Project.jpg|''Madonna and Child Enthroned, with Donor and Angels'' (c. 1320), Pietro Lorenzetti. File:Giovanni bellini, madonna col bambino, 1459-86 ca..JPG|''Madonna and Child'' (c. 1459-86), Giovanni Bellini. File:Carlo crivelli, pietà, 1472 ca. 01.JPG|''Pietà'' (''Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels'') (1472), Carlo Crivelli. File:Vittore crivelli, madonna col bambino e santi francescani, 1481, 01.JPG|''Madonna and Child with Saint Francis'' (1481), Vittore Crivelli. File:BOTTICELLI Portrait Lorenzo di Ser Piero Lorenzi.jpg|''Portrait of Lorenzo de Lorenzi'' (1492), Sandro Botticelli. File:Marco basaiti, madonna col bambino e san jacopo, 1500-01 ca..JPG|''Madonna and Child'' (c. 1500-01), Marco Basaiti. File:Dosso Dossi (Giovanni de' Luteri), Italian (active Ferrara), first recorded 1512, died 1542 - The Holy Family, with the Young Saint John the Baptist, a Cat, and Two Donors - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Holy Family with John the Baptist, a Cat, and Two Donors'' (1512–13), Dosso Dossi. File:Saint Jerome in the Wilderness by Paris Bordone.jpeg|''St. Jerome in the Wilderness'' (c. 1520-25), Paris Bordone. File:Tiziano, ritratto del cardinale filippo archinto, 1558.JPG|''Cardinal Filippo Archinto'' (1558), Titian. </gallery>
===Flemish and Dutch paintings=== <gallery> File:Campin, Robert — Blessing Christ and Praying Virgin — c. 1425.jpg|''Blessing Christ and Praying Virgin'' (1424), Robert Campin. File:Attributed to Jan van Eyck, Netherlandish (active Bruges), c. 1395 - 1441 - Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata - Google Art Project.jpg|''Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata'' (1430–32), attributed to Jan van Eyck. A copy is at the Sabauda Gallery in Turin, Italy. File:Philip the Fair 5 years Philadelphia.jpg|''Philip the Handsome, at 5 Years'' (1483), Master of the Legend of the Magdalen. File:Bosch Ecce Homo.jpg|''Ecce Homo'' (c.1510), attributed to Hieronymus Bosch. A related work is at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. File:Joos van cleve, ritratto di francesco I di francia, 1532-33 ca..JPG|''Francis I of France'' (c. 1530), Joos van Cleve. File:Brueghel II, Pieter - Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery 1600.jpg|''Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery'' (c. 1600), Pieter Brueghel the Younger. File:Theodoor Rombouts - Joueur de luth.jpg|''The Lute Player'' (c.1620), Theodoor Rombouts. File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Dutch (active Leiden and Amsterdam) - Head of Christ - Google Art Project.jpg|''Head of Christ'' (c. 1648-56), Rembrandt van Rijn. File:Steen Rhetoricians at a Window.jpg|''Rhetoricians at a Window'' (1662–68), Jan Steen. </gallery>
===Spanish and French paintings=== <gallery> File:Joan reixac, scomparto di predella con cristo coronato di spine, 1454.JPG|''Christ Crowned with Thorns'' (c. 1476-80), Joan Reixach. File:El Greco Pietà.jpg|''Pietà'' (1571–76), El Greco. File:Velazquez--taller-MTeresa-filadelfia.jpg|''Infanta Maria Teresa'' (1650s), Studio of Diego Velázquez. File:Saint Jean baptisant le Christ - Poussin - Philadelphie Museum of Art.jpg|''The Baptism of Christ'' (1655–57), Nicolas Poussin. </gallery>
===19th century paintings=== <gallery> File:Gustave Courbet, French - Spanish Woman - Google Art Project.jpg|''Spanish Woman'' (1855), Gustave Courbet. File:James Abbott McNeill Whistler - Purple and Rose- The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks - Google Art Project.jpg|''Purple and Rose- The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks'' (1864), James Abbott McNeill Whistler. File:Édouard Manet-Kearsarge-Alabama2.jpg|''Battle of "The Kearsarge" and "The Alabama"'' (1864), Édouard Manet. File:Fortuny Cap àrab.jpg|''Arab Chief'' (1874), Mariano Fortuny. File:Claude Monet - The Railway Bridge at Argenteuil (Philadelphia).jpg|''The Railway Bridge at Argenteuil'' (1874), Claude Monet. File:Eduard Charlemont, Austrian - The Moorish Chief - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Moorish Chief'' (1878), Eduard Charlemont. File:John Singer Sargent, American (active London, Florence, and Paris) - In the Luxembourg Gardens - Google Art Project.jpg|''In the Luxembourg Gardens'' (1879), John Singer Sargent. File:Saint mammes (philadelphia museum of art).jpg|''The Bridge at Saint-Mammès'' (1881), Alfred Sisley. File:I købmand Winthers butik i Skagen.jpg|''In Merchant Winthers Tavern in Skagen'' (1886), Peder Severin Krøyer. File:Winslow Homer - Winter Coast.jpg|''Winter Coast'' (1890), Winslow Homer. </gallery>
== See also == *Henri Gabriel Marceau, curator of the Johnson Collection, 1929–1969
== References == {{reflist}} * Barnie F. Winkelman, ''John G. Johnson, Lawyer and Art Collector, 1841–1917'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1942).
== External links == {{Commons category|John Graver Johnson}} *{{cite web |url=https://publications.philamuseum.org/jgj/vol1 |title=The John G. Johnson Collection: A History and Selected Works |date=1 February 2018 |editor-last=Atkins |editor-first=Christopher D. M. |website=Philadelphia Museum of Art |doi=10.29075/9780876332764/1 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} *{{Internet Archive author |sname=John G. Johnson |sopt=t}} * [https://books.google.com/books/about/Catalogue_of_a_collection_of_paintings_a.html?id=aIAEAAAAYAAJ ''Catalogue of the John G. Johnson Collection'' (1914)], from Google Books. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071114124248/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,851423,00.html "John G. Johnson's Art,"] ''Time Magazine'', November 10, 1941. * [http://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=JGJ&p=cs John G. Johnson Papers], Philadelphia Museum of Art. * [http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/1989/578.html ''John G. Johnson: Collector of Contemporary Art''], 1988 exhibition, Philadelphia Museum of Art. * [http://www.philadelphiabar.org/page/TPLWinter07Johnson?appNum=2 "John G. Johnson, Giant of the Philadelphia Bar,"] from Philadelphia Bar Association.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, John G.}} Category:1841 births Category:1917 deaths Category:American art collectors Category:Members of the Philadelphia Club Category:Lawyers from Philadelphia Category:People associated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art Category:University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni Category:19th-century American lawyers