Differences And Similarities Between Johnson And Smibert

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Every artist is different and that goes for the art too. Any piece of art looks different with the shape, style, color, or even smell sometimes. On a canvas, it could have similar brushstrokes and completely different. Also, the reason why they started to paint, either to make money, to gain status, or just for fun. Just like there is differences between artists Henrietta Johnson and John Smibert. Henrietta Johnson was born in 1670 in Dublin, Ireland to a family of French Huguenots. She and her family escaped France to England to avoid being persecuted. Johnson married Robert Dering and moved to Ireland. Later gave birth to two girls. In Ireland, she started to paint pastel portraits of members of her husband's extended family. When her husband died, she remarried Reverend Gideon Johnson who was going to be the rector of St.Philip's Church in Charleston, South Carolina. On the way there, Reverend missed the boat but when finally got to Charleston, he soon learned that the parishioners had appointed another rector. The city had many French Huguenots who had escaped persecution and started to build townhouses which lacked portraits on the walls. Henrietta Johnson was almost the only portrait artist in the town and it helped because her family was being affected by poverty. She worked hard to support her family since her …show more content…

The majority of colonial ladies portraits were painted by Henrietta Johnson. Nearly all women liked her way she was able to be precise and blend the colors well. They especially liked her way to paint hair on a canvas. In the portrait of Marianne Fleur Du Gue, Johnson blends the colors well that it even looks like the woman has a shadow behind her. Similar to Marianne Fleur Du Gue, the portrait Young Irish Girl shows great detail to her hair with looks like her has curled