By the early 1870s, "Johnson had found in the island of Nantucket the new locale that would inspire his best and most original paintings of the decade....Johnson was among the earliest touristic arrivals and for more than two decades would be among Nantucket's most enthusiastic promoters....Probably reminded of the Dutch sea town of Scheveningen, Johnson relished Nantucket's simple way of life, its setting, and its population that offered models of substantial visual appeal and character."  (Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills, Eastman Johnson: Painting America, 1999, pp. 78-9).  According to Dr. Patricia Hills, the peddler seen here appears to be modeled after Captain Nathan H. Manter; his portrait (1873,Private Collection) in the same pose, is reproduced on page 80 in Eastman Johnson: Picturing America (1873, Private Collection).