Thomas Eakins Working at an Easel (r); View of Rooftops Through a Door (v)

Susan Macdowell attempted portraits of Eakins in the summer of 1880, first in oils and then with her camera. This small panel may be a third, less formal portrait, which captures Eakins at a less self-conscious moment, working in front of an easel. She deemed this effort successful enough to prepare it for transfer to another support, as the vertical score marks attest. Eakins' pose is the same as that shown in photographs that document him at work on Frank St. John's portrait. Seated with his right leg crossed over his left, Eakins holds his palette with his left arm and rests it upon the calf and ankle of his right leg. Similarly, the easel at which he works in the photograph is of the same design as the one shown in this oil sketch. Studies like these may have influenced the composition of her best known portrait of him (Philadelphia Museum of Art) that was painted after his death from photographs.