Painting and Sculpture

Archbishop William Henry Elder (Eakins)

Archbishop William Henry Elder is a 1903 oil portrait by the American artist Thomas Eakins depicting the Archbishop of Cincinnati William Henry Elder, one of a series of portraits of Catholic clergy Eakins undertook late in his career. In this psychologically probing portrait, Eakins depicts the stoic Elder, frail but still imposing at 84, confronting his own mortality. The painting, which Eakins considered "one of my best", was awarded the Temple Gold Medal by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Eakins famously had the medal melted down out of spite, bitter over his forced resignation from the Academy 18 years beforehand. It is currently in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum, which purchased it in 1978.

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See also

• ▸Esther Before Ahasuerus (Tintoretto)
• ▸Calocephalus
• ▸Farewell of Hector and Andromache

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