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Portrait of Mary Adeline Williams

Dark portrait of an older light-skinned women with dark hair in a black dress and white collar, her hair pinned up. Her face is in partial shadow.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Dark portrait of an older light-skinned women with dark hair in a black dress and white collar, her hair pinned up. Her face is in partial shadow.

Date:

1899

Artist:

Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916)

About this artwork

During his lifetime, Thomas Eakins painted more than 200 portraits, only 25 of which were commissioned. Mary Adeline Williams was a personal friend of the artist; Eakins first met her when she was a childhood playmate of his sister. Later, as an unmarried woman, Williams, who was known as Addie, lived with Eakins and his wife, Susan. Although Eakins’s portrait presents Addie as straight-laced and severe, this is in marked contrast with the active woman Susan Eakins described in her diary as riding bicycles, going to art exhibitions, and socializing between sittings for the painting.

Status

On View, Gallery 176

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Thomas Eakins

Title

Portrait of Mary Adeline Williams

Place

Philadelphia (Place depicted)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1899

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

61 × 50.8 cm (24 × 20 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Friends of American Art Collection

Reference Number

1939.548

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/31285/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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