# David Johnson artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/david-johnson/
Profile generated: 2026-05-13T03:08:12.688Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1827-05-10
- Death date: 1908-01-30
- Nationality: American
- Movements: Hudson River School, Barbizon School influence
- Common media: oil painting, drawing

## About David Johnson

David Claypool Johnson (1827–1908) was an American landscape painter recognized as a member of the second generation of the Hudson River School. Born on May 10, 1827, he was the younger brother of portrait painter Joseph Hoffman Johnson. Active from the mid-1840s through the early twentieth century, Johnson produced finely detailed depictions of the Hudson River Valley and the broader American Northeast. His work also reflects the influence of the French Barbizon School, lending a looser, more atmospheric quality to some compositions alongside the tightly rendered realism typical of his Hudson River School contemporaries. Johnson is recorded in the Getty Union List of Artist Names, the RKD, VIAF, and the Library of Congress authority files, and his work has been documented in standard reference sources including Bénézit and Kornhauser (2007). Collectors most often encounter his oil landscapes at regional and national auctions of nineteenth-century American art.

## Common works and media

The most commonly encountered works by David Johnson are oil-on-canvas landscape paintings of the Hudson River Valley, Bear Mountain, and surrounding New York scenery. He also produced finished drawings in graphite and other media. Subjects tend toward river views, mountain profiles, woodland interiors, and pastoral settings in the American Northeast. Signed works are more frequently traded; unsigned attributions require additional provenance or expert verification.

## Market and appraisal context

David Johnson's landscapes appear periodically at auction, primarily in sales of nineteenth-century American painting. Works are typically oil on canvas depicting Hudson River scenery, mountain views, and pastoral Northeastern subjects. Factors that affect appraisal include the quality of attribution — the artist's full name, David Claypool Johnson, helps distinguish him from other painters with the same name — as well as provenance history, canvas condition, subject matter, and size. The artist's dual allegiance to Hudson River School precision and Barbizon-influenced atmosphere can make certain compositions more sought after. Because Johnson also produced copyist work, attribution should be confirmed before appraisal. Comparable auction records from major houses and regional American art sales provide the most reliable pricing context.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum authority files, library catalogs, and scholarly references with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. For David Johnson, identity data is drawn from the Getty ULAN, RKD, VIAF, Library of Congress, and Wikidata authority files.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3695975
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500005613
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/31063109/
- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/42406
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Johnson_(American_artist)
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n87877648