Object Image

The Pathetic Song

Eakins, the eminent Realist painter active in Philadelphia, apparently made only twenty-eight watercolors, of which all but three date from early in his career, between 1873 and 1882. During that time he was a frequent exhibitor at annual shows of the American Society of Painters in Water Colors and his work received favorable reviews. Eakins created this replica of his larger oil of the same title (1881; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) as a gift for the friend who posed as the singer.

Credit: Bequest of Joan Whitney Payson, 1975...

1881
Watercolor on off-white wove paper
42.5 x 28.4cm
1976.201.1
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

Where you'll find this

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection