Eliza Griffin (1821-1896) was the only daughter of Mary and John Griffin to survive to adulthood. In this miniature Campbell captures her youth and innocence, depicting her softly rounded face with feathery brush strokes. The miniature may have been painted in 1843 at the time of her marriage to General Albert Sidney Johnston. General Johnston was also painted by Campbell, and his miniature was exhibited along with twenty-six others in 1839 at the Cincinnati Academy. Campbell’s portraits of the Griffins may have been shown on that occasion or in an exhibition the following year, when the artist again displayed a large number of miniatures. Johnston took his family to San Francisco during the Civil War, and after his death in 1862 Eliza Griffin remained in California with her children, looked after by her brother Dr. John Strother Griffin. She died in Los Angeles on September 25, 1896.
