Study for Milton Dictating "Paradise Lost" to His Daughters

Two full versions of this painting exist, one in the Blanden Art Museum, Iowa, that was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, and one that is presently unlocated and was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1875. Reviewers preferred Johnson's images of everyday life over his works with literary or historical references, and he never attempted a subject of this type again.