Journal of the History of Collections vol. 32 no. 1 (2020) pp. 73–89 © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.1093/jhc/fhy059 Advance Access publication 13 December 2018 ‘Covetable pictures’ John Taylor Johnston (1820–1893), collecting art between New York and Europe Thomas Busciglio-Ritter Born in 1820, John Taylor Johnston is a pivotal fgure in the history of American collecting. A pioneer in transatlantic art collecting, his numerous visits to Europe helped him develop his taste, enrich his possessions, and build a reliable network of artists and dealers. He then re-injected this experience into a rising New York art market, becoming the frst collector to enjoy success through the weekly public opening of a domestic art gallery. Here he displayed his highly-praised collection of European and American paintings, comprising works by Vernet, Gérôme, Meissonier, Homer and Church. Along with his brother James, Johnston also founded the very frst edifce in the United States devoted entirely to housing artists – the Tenth Street Studio Building, designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt. His reputation as a collector eventually led to his appointment as frst president of the newly formed Metropolitan Museum in 1871. WHEN on Friday, 4 June 1880, the painter Léon Bonnat (1833–1922) opened the door of his studio to three visitors at 48 Rue de Bassano, Paris, his reputation was already established. Launched with his monumental portrait of Madame Pasca in 1874, the reorientation of his artistic career toward élite portraiture had already turned him into an essential fgure for the growing community of aesthetes focking to the French cap- ital. His portrait of former French president Adolphe Thiers, completed in 1876, had however propelled his notoriety with a rather different group. American vis- itors – captains of industry enriched by the commer- cial vitality of a country entering a ‘Gilded Age’ – had made Paris their new European pied-à-terre. Among those crossing the threshold of Bonnat’s workshop on this June morning was not the least of personalities: sixty-year-old John Taylor Johnston (1820–1893), president of an emerging New York institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the founding of which in 1870 had already caused a stir on both sides of the Atlantic. A collector and art lover, the ex-railway tycoon was not visiting France for the frst time. In Paris, he had maintained a solid network of relation- ships, whose keystones were American art dealers Samuel P. Avery (1822–1904) and George A. Lucas (1824–1909), who had settled there in 1867 and 1857 respectively and had agreed to accompany their friend to the artist’s studio. 1 Johnston, pushed by the trustees of his new museum, was eager to pose for the painter. 2 Arriving in the United Kingdom at the beginning of May, he had frst spoken with Avery about artists who might be considered appropriate for the task. If the British painter John Everett Millais had frst been courted, Bonnat had quickly drawn their attention, his colleague across the Channel being already over- whelmed by commissions. 3 On 21 May, Johnston had written to the trustees, informing them of his fnal choice. 4 Bonnat, for his part, had shown enthusiasm at the prospect of such a commission, the social position of his subject probably auguring for him the prospect of increased fame in America. 5 Sessions were held throughout the month, usually with Avery and Lucas in attendance. 6 The portrait, completed on 29 June, was framed on 15 July. 7 Four days later, and on behalf of the trustees of the Metropolitan Museum, each providing fnancial support, Avery paid the painter the sum of 12,000 francs for the work, 8 which he sent to the United States on 2 August (Fig. 1). 9 A New Yorker, John Taylor Johnston was the des- cendant of a merchant family that took up residence in Manhattan in the late 1810s. His father, John Johnston, was born on 22 June 1781 in south-western Scotland. Following the death of his mother, John Johnston left Scotland for the frst time in 1804 to Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jhc/article-abstract/32/1/73/5243117 by guest on 15 May 2020