Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916). Letitia Wilson Jordan, 1888. Oil on canvas, 59 15/16 x 40 3/16 in. (152.3 x 102 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 27.50 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 27.50_SL1.jpg)
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Can you give me more info on Letitia Jordan?
Jordan was the sister of a painter who was one of Eakins' students. She married a Connecticut clergyman named Leonard Woolsey Bacon. Eakins was so taken by her at a social gathering that he insisted he had to paint her. She is dressed in typical fashion for the 1880’s, wearing a sleeveless black evening gown and bright red choker, an accessory popularized by Alexandra, Princess of Wales.
Letitia Wilson Jordan
Thomas Eakins
American Art
On View: American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Witness
Letitia Wilson Jordan was the sister of Thomas Eakins’s friend and student David Wilson Jordan. Eakins had seen her at a party and was so taken with the young woman that he asked her to pose for him in the same outfit she had worn that evening.
The thoughtful, distanced expression on Jordan’s face evidences Eakins’s interest in conveying the emotional essence of his subjects. The careful modeling of the sitter’s body is characteristic of Eakins’s unflinching naturalism.
PROVENANCE
1888, gift of the artist to David Wilson Jordan; November 12, 1926, consigned by David Wilson Jordan to Macbeth Gallery, New York, NY; January 28, 1927, purchased from Macbeth Gallery by the Brooklyn Museum.
CAPTION
Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916). Letitia Wilson Jordan, 1888. Oil on canvas, 59 15/16 x 40 3/16 in. (152.3 x 102 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 27.50 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 27.50_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 27.50_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.
Can you give me more info on Letitia Jordan?
Jordan was the sister of a painter who was one of Eakins' students. She married a Connecticut clergyman named Leonard Woolsey Bacon. Eakins was so taken by her at a social gathering that he insisted he had to paint her. She is dressed in typical fashion for the 1880’s, wearing a sleeveless black evening gown and bright red choker, an accessory popularized by Alexandra, Princess of Wales.