# The Westwood Children

**Joshua Johnson** (American, ca. 1763–ca. 1824)  
c. 1807  
oil on canvas  
overall: 104.5 x 117 cm (41 1/8 x 46 1/16 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959.11.1. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.45955.html).

## About this work

Three boys in matching green suits with wide ruffled collars stand hand in hand: one holds a sprig of cherries, the middle child a rose, and the eldest a basket of roses. At their feet a black dog carries a bird in its mouth, and a window opens onto a slender tree and distant pink-grey hills. The flat, patterned design, crisply outlined faces and careful repetition of pose are hallmarks of Joshua Johnson, a Baltimore portrait painter of African descent who is among the earliest known professional Black artists in the United States. The sitters are recorded as George, Henry and John Westwood.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Joshua Johnson painted this in about 1807, aged 49. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

Three pale-skinned, blue-eyed children wearing green suits stand in a row facing us in this horizontal portrait painting. They all have round faces and full, pink cheeks. The tallest child is to the right, and he has shoulder-length cinnamon-brown hair. The other two come up to his shoulder and have blond hair. The tallest puts one arm on the far shoulder of the middle child, and the two smaller children hold hands. Each wears a pine-green, one-piece outfit with pewter-gray buttons, a wide, ivory-white collar lined with ruffles, and black, shin-high boots. The boy on our left holds a branch of dark red cherries. The middle child holds a pink rose, and the tallest a basket filled with pink roses. A black dog holding a gray and mauve-pink bird in its mouth stands in profile facing our left in the lower right corner of the canvas. The room around them has a tan-colored floor and gray walls. The room opens onto an alcove to our right with a rectangular window. A slender tree is along the left edge of the opening and a few pale, pink-tinged gray mountains line the bottom edge. Clear blue sky fills the rest of the window.

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Joshua Johnson](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/joshua-johnson)

American, ca. 1763–ca. 1824

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was 49
- Real size: about 41 × 46 in (105 × 117 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 24 × 36 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: boy, Westwood, George, Westwood, Henry, Westwood, John
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1510.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1510/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-westwood-children-nga-45955).