Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Thomas Eakins at Auction and at the National Gallery (Washington DC)


BIOGRAPHY

Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins was born in 1844 in Philadelphia, the first-born and only male of the four children of Benjamin Eakins and Caroline Cowperthwait. His father was a calligrapher and writing master, who supported his family in comfortable circumstances by his profession and through prudent investments. Eakins was raised in the family home at 1729 Mount Vernon Street and would live there for the rest of his life (it still stands). He graduated from the Central High School in Philadelphia and in 1862 began to take courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and attended anatomy lectures there and at the Jefferson Medical College. In 1866 he went to Paris, where he attended the École des Beaux-arts and studied with the French painters Jean-Léon Gérôme, who permanently influenced him, and Léon Bonnat and the sculptor Augustin Alexandre Dumont. Before returning to the United States he spent six months in Spain. He greatly admired Spanish painting, particularly the art of Velázquez, which would also be lastingly influential.
Eakins returned to Philadelphia in 1869, where he remained to the end of his life. He resumed his studies at the Jefferson Medical College, and in 1878 he began teaching at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he was appointed professor of Painting and drawing the next year. On January 19, 1884, he married Susan Hannah Macdowell, a student at the academy. In his teaching, Eakins was steadfast in his insistence on painting from the nude model. The controversy surrounding this practice led to his dismissal, with an aroma of scandal, from the professorship in 1886.
Eakins' fame is almost entirely posthumous. He was little known and admired in his native city--when John Singer Sargent visited Philadelphia in 1903 and was asked what artist he would like to meet, he said "There's Eakins, for instance." The reply was, "And who is Eakins."--and even less known outside it. Eakins died in Philadelphia in 1916, at the age of seventy-one. 

Sotheby's 2012




Thomas Eakins
1844 - 1916
PORTRAIT OF FRANCESCO ROMANO
LOT SOLD. 146,500



Thomas Eakins
UNTITLED (PORTRAIT OF A GIRL IN PUFF SLEEVES)
LOT SOLD. 18,750


Bonhams 2012




Thomas Eakins (American, 1844-1916)
Portrait of Rebecca MacDowell (Mrs. J. Randolph Garrett), circa 1908
 20 1/4 x 16in
US$ 70,000 - 90,000

Christie's 2011








Study for Portrait of the Very Reverend John J. Fedigan
 Pr.$10,625






 
 








Christie’s 2009






PR.$122,500

 Christie’s 2008





 




Christie’s 2007



Pr.$78,000


National Gallery (Washington DC)





Eakins, Thomas
, American, 1844 - 1916
The Biglin Brothers Racing
1872
oil on canvas
overall: 61.2 x 91.6 cm (24 1/8 x 36 1/16 in.)
framed: 74.9 x 105.7 x 5.4 cm (29 1/2 x 41 5/8 x 2 1/8 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney








Eakins, Thomas
, American, 1844 - 1916
Baby at Play
1876
oil on canvas
overall: 81.9 x 122.8 cm (32 1/4 x 48 3/8 in.)
framed: 106.7 x 147.3 cm (42 x 58 in.)
John Hay Whitney Collection
1982.76.5




Eakins, Thomas 
American, 1844 - 1916
The Poleman in the Ma'sh
c. 1881
brown wash heightened with white over graphite and black chalk
overall: 28 x 15.1 cm (11 x 5 15/16 in.)
Julius S. Held Collection, Avalon Fund
1984.3.9





Eakins, Thomas
, American, 1844 - 1916
The Chaperone
c. 1908
oil on canvas
overall: 46.3 x 36.2 cm (18 1/4 x 14 1/4 in.)
framed: 63.5 x 53.3 x 8.3 cm (25 x 21 x 3 1/4 in.)
Gift of John Wilmerding, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
1991.34.1



Eakins, Thomas
, American, 1844 - 1916
Rear Admiral George W. Melville
1905
oil on canvas
overall: 101.6 x 68.5 cm (40 x 26 15/16 in.)
framed: 115.6 x 82.6 x 5.1 cm (45 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 2 in.)
Gift (Partial and Promised) of Senator and Mrs. H. John Heinz III, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
1991.33.1






Eakins, Thomas
, American, 1844 - 1916
Archbishop Diomede Falconio
1905
oil on canvas
overall: 183.2 x 137.7 cm (72 1/8 x 54 3/16 in.)
framed: 204.5 x 159.4 x 6 cm (80 1/2 x 62 3/4 x 2 3/8 in.)
Gift of Stephen C. Clark
1946.16.1
 




Eakins, Thomas
, American, 1844 - 1916
Annie C. Lochrey Husson (Mrs. Louis Husson)
c. 1905
oil on canvas
overall: 61.1 x 50.9 cm (24 1/16 x 20 1/16 in.)
framed: 79.4 x 69.2 x 7 cm (31 1/4 x 27 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.)
Gift of Katharine Husson Horstick
1957.2.2




Eakins, Thomas
, American, 1844 - 1916
Harriet Husson Carville (Mrs. James G. Carville)
1904
oil on canvas
overall: 51 x 40.7 cm (20 1/16 x 16 in.)
framed: 74.8 x 62.4 x 7 cm (29 7/16 x 24 9/16 x 2 3/4 in.)
Gift of Elizabeth O. Carville
1976.27




Eakins, Thomas
, American, 1844 - 1916
Louis Husson
1899
oil on canvas
overall: 61 x 50.9 cm (24 x 20 1/16 in.)
framed: 76.2 x 66 x 6.7 cm (30 x 26 x 2 5/8 in.)
Gift of Katharine Husson Horstick
1957.2.1