In the Studio

Artist Thomas Eakins American, 1844 - 1916

Date1884

Place of OriginPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsStretcher: 22 1/8 × 18 1/16 in. (56.2 × 45.9 cm)
Frame Dimensions: 28 1/2 x 24 3/4 in. (72.4 x 62.9 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineThe Hyde Collection Trust, 1952

Object number1971.17

On View

On view

Collections

American Paintings & Sculpture

SignedVerso: LR "T.E." in brown paint see also Inscriptions. According to Lloyd Goodrich in "Thomas Eakins, His Life and Work,", 1933, the picture is signed LR: "T.E. 1884" and on the back: "T.E." However, in Goodrich's notes for the unpublished revision of this catalogue dated 5/11/85 (coll. Phila Mus of Art) he writes "Signed l.r.; "T.E. 1884"; visible in 1930 and in a photograph at that time, but now under repaint." Notes in the file titled "Information sent to Lloyd Goodrich dated "'68" by James Kettlewell" states "Though the painting was described by you (1933, no. 208) as signed, lower right, "T.E. 1884", these initials could not be discovered after the most thorough search by myself, Mr. Crockwell and other members of the museum staff. There are, however, indications of new paint in this part of the picture." [A query letter from Goodrich dated November 20, 1968 has a note in James Kettlewell's hand "Sent information Dec. 17, 1968."] In a letter dated Sept. 11, 1978 Kettlewell responded to a request from a researcher in the American painting dept at the MMA. In it he states that the inscription noted on the front of the canvas by Goodrich was no longer present and that Gordon Hendricks in his Eakins volume of 1974 "noted that the inscription was not in Eakins' hand. Since he includes it in his catalogue, he must have studied the work only from an older photograph. It would appear that this inscription was removed during conservation, but unfortunately the painiting entered the Hyde before records were kept, so we cannot suggest when this might have been done." He continues, "On the back the initials "T.E." do appear. The subsequently removed dates of"1884" seems correct for the work, and may I suggest that it and the initials, "T.E." that were once on the front were probably put there by Mrs. Eakins.....When Goodrich published his book in 1933 Mrs. Eakins still had the painting."

InscribedReverse of stretcher, printed at top right corner: "Thomas Eakins," incised at upper left center: "Lady for...". Reverse of canvas, in bright red, upper center: "66.1929.6". In brown paint at lower right: "T.E.".

MarkingsLabels on back of frame, removed during conservation treatment: "In the Studio,-Girl and dog/Painted by Thomas Eakins./No. 11" "Loaned to Penna Museum of Art/'In the Studio'/Thomas Eakins" "December 1927/To be sent to Cleveland Museum/Ohio/To be returned N.W. Storage/17th & poplar Street"

DescriptionYoung woman seated. She is slightly slumped and wears a long white dress and rests her right hand on the seat beside her right hip. A large dog, red-brown with a white blaze on its face and white on its extended left paw, lays on the floor on the lower left side of the image (the figure's right side).

The concept of this work is similar to that of "The Artist's Wife and His Setter Dog" in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, but it is not a direct preparatory work. This oil sketch is squared-off in preparation for transfer apparently for a watercolor in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (see Notes).Exhibition HistoryPennsylvania Museum of Art (presume this is the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art), no date, label removed from back of frame.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Dec. 1927.

"Thomas Eakins Centennial Exhibition, 1844-1944," Carnegie Institute, April 21 - June 1, 1945.

"American Portraiture from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries", Hoopes Gallery, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY, July, 30- Nov. 26, 2006.ProvenanceMrs. Thomas Eakins
New York, NY, E.C. Babcock Gallery
1937, Glens Fall, NY, Mrs. Charlotte P. Hyde
1952, Glens Falls, NY The Hyde Collection Trust