Arcadia
Artist: Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916)
Original Dimensions: 38 5/8" x 45"
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
About Artwork: (ca. 1883) "Like other academically trained American artists in the 1880s, Eakins explored classical themes but without specific narratives and idealized models. Produced while directing the school of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Eakins’s series of Arcadian works declared his commitment to the nude as the basis of art and art instruction. To execute this work, he projected photographic images with a magic lantern onto the canvas and incised reference marks into the pigment to guide his brush. The female figure at left has been identified as his student Susan Macdowell, the artist’s future wife." - (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

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