American and European Figure Paintings

Provenance

The artist
Estate of the above
Susan Macdowell Eakins, wife of the artist, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Charles Bregler, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, gift from the above
Joseph Katz, Baltimore, Maryland
M. Knoedler & Co., New York by 1961
Joseph H. Hirshhorn, New York, acquired from the above, 1961-1966
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., 1966-2011

Exhibited

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington. "The Thomas Eakins Collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden," May 24 - September 5, 1977.
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh. "Thomas Eakins Centennial Exhibtion 1844-1944," April 26- June 1, 1945, no. 99
M. Knoedler & Co., . "A Loan Exhibition of the Works of Thomas Eakins, 1844-1944," June 5- July 31, 1944, no. 52
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. "Thomas Eakins Centennial Exhibition, 1844-1944," April 8- May 14, 1944, no. 78

Bibliography

A. Burroughs, "Catalogue of Works by Thomas Eakins (1869-1916," The Arts 5 ():, p. 330
G. Hendricks, The Life and Work of Thomas Eakins (1974; reprint, New York: , ), p. 322, no. 77, illustrated
L. Goodrich, Thomas Eakins: His Life and Work (1933; reprint, New York: , ), p. 186, no. 286
P.D. Rosenzweig, The Thomas Eakins Collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (1977; reprint, Washington, D.C.: , ), p. 151-152, no. 82, illustrated

Dating from the period of Thomas Eakins’ greatest portraits, Study for Mrs. Charles L. Leonard was conceived as a companion to the portrait of her husband, the noted Philadelphia physician and X-ray pioneer. Although a finished version after this work was completed, it is now lost.

Despite the preliminary nature and small scale of this study, Eakins has provided an incisive characterization that suggests his subject’s regal bearing and captures the humanity in her serene, contemplative expression.