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Thomas Johnston (engraver)

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Thomas Johnston
Born1708
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedMay 8, 1767(1767-05-08) (aged 58–59)
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
OccupationEngraver
Known forEngraving, organ building
Notable workFirst engraved print of an historical event in Colonial America, an overview of the Battle of Lake George

Thomas Johnston (1708 – May 8, 1767)[a] was an American engraver, japanner, and heraldic painter in Colonial Boston. Johnston engraved the first print of an historical event in the Colonial America and was also the first manufacturer of church organs in the colonies. The pipe organ he built in 1758–1759 for Boston's Old North Church[b] was in use for over a hundred years until another organ replaced it in 1886.

Pipe organ manufacturing

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The Old North Church organ, case restored in the 1990s to the 1759 Johnston version

Johnston's workshop was in his home's backyard.[7] While he advertised his businesses as being organ making, engraving, and furniture merchant,[8] he also worked as a japanner, painted coats of arms, and published books.[9] He was an engraver of skill and a heraldic painter whose works included views of Boston.[2][10] His furniture skills included japanning, a technique of rendering "elaborate applied decorations"[9] onto furniture.

Though at least one other person had created a singular organ in the colonies before him, Johnston is considered to have been the first Bostonian to build an organ[11] and had the earliest church organ manufacturing business in Colonial America.[12] Boston's Old North Church's first organ was one imported by William Claggett in 1736.[13] In 1752, the church decided to buy a replacement organ from Johnston that they wanted to be as loud as the Boston Trinity Church organ.[7] Johnston finishing constructing the organ in 1759.[14] This Johnston pipe organ was in regular use until the 1820s.[15] The present casing is the completely-restored case from the Johnston instrument.[14] The organ's inner workings – the pipes, pedals, bellows and so on (though of Johnston's type) – are completely new and date to the complete renovation/restoration that was started in 1992.[16] In 1754, Johnston built an organ for St. Peter's in Salem, Massachusetts.[17] Johnston is also known to have built organs for Boston's Deblois Concert Hall and for St. John's Church (in Portsmouth, New Hampshire). Some of his organs originally installed in a first church or venue were then later re-used secondhand in other churches.[18]

After Johnston's death, his estate included various items from his many businesses, among them an incomplete organ, numerous pictures, various paintings, artist supplies, and copper plates for engraving and printing.[1][19] In his will, he gave his wife Bathsheba the engraved copper plates for printing music for the psalms stating “I Thomas Johnston Give to my Wife Bathsheba Johnston all my psalm Tune plates together with the Press besides what her proportionable part of my Estate may be.”[20]

Engravings

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A prospective plan of the battle fought near Lake George on the 8th of September 1755 – 1890 facsimile of Johnston's 1755 original
A 1768 Jefferys engraving printed in London and based on the 1755 Johnston original
Johnston's Prospect of Yale College engraving, 1749

Patricia E. Kane, writing in Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, says that though "the identity of his master is not known"[21] theorizes that Johnston may have been trained by the craftsman William Burgis. Kane's evidence for this is that the map of Boston published by Burgis in 1728 was engraved for Burgis by Johnston "just at the time that Johnston would have been finishing his apprenticeship".[22] Johnston's earliest known engraving is that map of Boston, titled Plan of Boston in New England, with its dedication to Massachusetts Governor William Burnet, governor of the Massachusetts Colony from 1727–1729.[23] Johnston's various engravings include prints of scenes, business cards for tradesmen, legal certificates, currency, and even noted music scores.[24] One of his apprentices was John Greenwood, whose varied artistic career included an early period assisting Johnston with painting and engraving.[25]

Johnston engraved the first known print of an historical event in the colonies,[26] an overview of the Battle of Lake George. The battle scene —A prospective plan of the battle fought near Lake George on the 8th of September 1755 – was originally drawn by Samuel Blodgett, a sutler who had witnessed the Battle.[27][28] Johnston engraved Blodgett's sketch onto a copper plate with Boston printer Richard Draper printing it,[27] with the print then being sold by Blodgett in December 1755.[29] Johnston's engraving of the battle is divided into different sections. On the left an above view of marching soldiers, on the right the view of the soldiers' camp and of the battle itself. The engraving also pictures the Hudson River, Fort William Henry and the New York town of Fort Edward.[30] A pamphlet consisting of five pages describing the Battle plus a single page of advertisements accompanied this engraving.[31] Johnston's print was reprinted in London by Thomas Jefferys, being published six weeks later in February 1756,[32] along with an explanatory eight-page pamphlet.[33]

Many of Johnston's print engravings along with various images can be found in the Colonial Society of Massachusetts' publication Boston Prints and Printmakers 1670–1775,[34] including his engraving of artist John Greenwood's Yale College view, Prospect of Yale College.[35]

Personal life

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Johnston was born in 1708[c] in Boston, Massachusetts.[23] He became a member of the Brattle Street Church on June 5, 1726.[2]

Johnston's first wife was Rachel Thwing, they married on June 22, 1730. His second wife was Rachel's first cousin Bathsheba Thwing and that marriage took place 17 years later in 1747. Many of the sons developed careers based on skills adjacent to their father's various crafts and livelihoods.[36][37] Three of Johnston's sons by his first wife Rachel — Thomas Jr., William, and Benjamin —all became artists or craftspeople of varying kinds, their skills including japanning, portrait painting, organ-building, and engraving. Rachel, a daughter from Johnston's first marriage, married Daniel Rea Jr. in 1764. After Johnston's death, Rea purchased his father-in-law's business and ran it until the early 1800s. John and Samuel Johnston, two of Johnston's sons from his second marriage, worked as portrait painters.[38]

Death

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Johnston died (from what was called a fit of apoplexy) on May 8, 1767.[39] His grave is located in Boston's historic King's Chapel Burying Ground.[40]

Notes

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  1. ^ Some sources spell his last name without the T as "Johnson",[1][2] though the man himself signed his engravings as "Johnston" — for an example, see File:Johnston's View of Yale College.jpeg. On at least one engraving, his early Plan of Boston in New England, he also signed his name in the bottom right-hand corner as "Johnson".[3] His various account books and his will refer to him with the "T" spelling.[4]
  2. ^ Though commonly referred to as "Old North Church", the church's official name is Christ Church in the City of Boston. Sources refer to this church by the names of "Old North" and also as "Christ Church".[5][6]
  3. ^ Ogasapian (2007) has Johnston's birth year as 1701.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Herald Painters. No. 1. (Thomas Johnson)". The Heraldic Journal. 1–4: 6. 1865. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Dunlap, Bayley & Goodspeed 1918, pp. 311–312.
  3. ^ William Burgis (1869) [First published in 1728]. To His Excellency William Burnet, Esqr., this Plan of Boston in New England is humbly dedicated (Map). WIlliam Burgis.
  4. ^ Hitchings 1985, pp. 637, 648.
  5. ^ "Welcome to the Old North Church". Old North Church & Historic Site. Retrieved February 22, 2023. Established in 1723 as Christ Church in the City of Boston, Old North Church ...
  6. ^ Bolton, Charles Knowles (1923). "Christ Church, Salem Street, Boston, 1723 : a guide". Old North Church. Retrieved February 22, 2023. Christ Church, now better known as "The Old North Church"
  7. ^ a b Williams 1915, p. 177.
  8. ^ "Japanned Furniture: An 18th Century Faux Finish". The News Journal. Wilmington, Delaware. May 7, 1998. p. 48 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  9. ^ a b Hitchings 1973, p. 83.
  10. ^ "Boston Folks' Coat of Arms". The Boston Daily Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. February 7, 1915 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  11. ^ Owen 1985, p. 695.
  12. ^ Owen 1979, p. 23.
  13. ^ Ogasapian 2007, p. 59.
  14. ^ a b "The OHS Pipe Organ Database". OHS Database ID 41284. The Organ Historical Society. 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  15. ^ Babcock 1947, p. 140.
  16. ^ Dudas, Libor (November 5, 2021). "All About Old North Church's Organ". YouTube – Official Old North Church & Historic Site Channel. Old North Church & Historic Site. Retrieved February 22, 2023. [From 0:33–1:46...The history of the instrument] The casing that you see today is the original casing from the 1700s, completely restored ... The inside of the organ is new
  17. ^ a b Ogasapian 2007, p. 60.
  18. ^ Owen 1985, pp. 712–713.
  19. ^ Hitchings 1973, pp. 126–128.
  20. ^ Hitchings 1973, p. 111.
  21. ^ Kane, Patricia E. (1998). "Thomas Johnston (Appendix A, Craftsmen in Allied Trades)". In Kane, Patricia E. (ed.). Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers: A Biographical Dictionary Based on the Notes of Francis Hill Bigelow and John Marshall Phillips. Yale University Art Gallery/University Press of New England, Hanover and London. pp. 1020–1021. ISBN 0-89467-077-8. ...this association opens the possibility that Johnston learned engraving from Burgis. ... Furthermore, the spiky style of the leafage on the cartouches associated with Burgis ... would become a hallmark of Johnston's engraving style, lending credence to a master-apprentice relationship between the two men.
  22. ^ Kane, Patricia E. (1998). "William Burgis (Appendix A, Craftsmen in Allied Trades)". In Kane, Patricia E. (ed.). Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers: A Biographical Dictionary Based on the Notes of Francis Hill Bigelow and John Marshall Phillips. Yale University Art Gallery/University Press of New England, Hanover and London. p. 1006. ISBN 0-89467-077-8. Burgis may have trained the engraver Thomas Johnston
  23. ^ a b Stauffer 1907, p. 144.
  24. ^ Hitchings 1973, pp. 83–84.
  25. ^ Hitchings 1973, p. 85.
  26. ^ "print: A Prospective View of the Battle fought near Lake George September 1755". Collections Database – Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium. Retrieved February 23, 2023. Samuel Blodget was a sutler ... who saw the battle (his version was printed a[sic] 1775 "Boston-Gazette") and drew the plan, which was originally engraved by Thomas Johnston (c.1708–1767) and printed in Boston on December 22, 1755, as the first American historical event drawn and engraving in America, and the first portrayal of the Indian method of fighting from ambush.
  27. ^ a b Green 1890, p. 4.
  28. ^ Treasures of Americana 1969, p. 15.
  29. ^ Winsor 1887, p. 586.
  30. ^ Exhibition Catalogs 1908, p. 46.
  31. ^ Green 1890, pp. 4–5.
  32. ^ "A prospective view of the battle fought near Lake George, on the 8th of Sepr. 1755 bewteen [sic] 2000 English with 250 Mohawks". Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. 1768. Retrieved February 22, 2023. An English impression after an impression published in Boston six weeks earlier. Samuel Blodget, an eye witness,[1768, after edition published 2 Feb.1756] ...
  33. ^ Green 1890, p. 6.
  34. ^ Hitchings 1973, pp. 86–115.
  35. ^ American printmaking 1975, p. 59.
  36. ^ Hitchings 1973, pp. 117–122.
  37. ^ Publications of the Colonial Society 1918, p. 406.
  38. ^ Hitchings 1973, p. 121.
  39. ^ Green 1890, p. 6.
  40. ^ Beers 1905, p. 572.

Bibliography

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Johnston.


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