Little Johnny Boy

Piet Mondriaan painted this touching portrait of Little Johnny Boy (Klein Jantje) in 1896. In those days he lived in Amsterdam. The story goes that he had caught a childhood disease from Jantje and was cared for by his family.

Mondriaan is said to have painted this portrait after a photograph to thank them. Johnny had been photographed wearing his best sailor’s suit, as was customary in well-to-do circles at the time. The background was one of the photographer’s props, just like the wooden stand in the foreground, though painting roots rather than the photographer’s planks might have been Mondriaan’s idea. One of the photographs next to Mondriaan’s portrait shows the impression of a thumb, which might be the artist’s himself, although no DNA-tests have been done yet.

Johnny’s father also was an artist and teacher, and a member of the same Dutch Reformed Church Mondriaan had joined in Amsterdam. This portrait had been in Johnny’s grandson’s family for years. It was rediscovered in 2012 and sold to a collector who has lent it to Villa Mondriaan.