Caption:
Thomas Eakins. Artist: Samuel Aloysius Murray (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1869-1941 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Dimensions: 9 x 9 1/4 x 8 1/2 in. (22.9 x 23.5 x 21.6 cm). Date: 1907; cast 1923.
Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) was an instructor at the Art Students' League of Philadelphia during the winter of 1886-87, when Murray enrolled as a student. The two men shared a studio from 1892 to 1900 and portrayed many of the same people in their works. In this diminutive statuette, Eakins is shown seated cross-legged on the floor in the process of painting The Agnew Clinic (1889; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia), a canvas so large it could not fit on an easel.