James MacAlister (Sketch)

James MacAlister (1840–1913) was born in Glasgow and immigrated with his family to Wisconsin in 1850. He was appointed superintendent of public schools in Milwaukee in 1873, and was chosen to reorganize the Philadelphia public school system in 1883. In 1890, he resigned to become president of the newly founded Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry. This sketch is usually dated to about 1895, when Eakins lectured briefly on anatomy at the Drexel Institute. Eakins used this sketch, which is squared for enlargement, to paint a now-lost, life-sized portrait of the same sitter. At one time, the canvas was mounted on composition board with two additional sketches by the artist on the reverse. These were removed sometime in the 1930s and are now lost.