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The Thinker: Portrait of Louis N. Kenton

Thomas Eakins American
1900
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 771
Louis N. Kenton (1865–1947) was Eakins's brother-in-law, having married Elizabeth Macdowell (1858–1953), sister of Eakins's wife Susan, in 1889. Elizabeth studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, exhibited professionally, and traveled widely. Her marriage to Kenton was stormy and apparently brief, and very little is known of it, or of Kenton. The title associated with this portrait, "The Thinker," was at one time based upon an inscription on the reverse that apparently was placed there by Susan Eakins. Beginning in 1900, the portrait was widely exhibited and much admired. An oil study for the portrait is in the Farnsworth Library and Art Museum in Rockland, Maine.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Thinker: Portrait of Louis N. Kenton
  • Artist: Thomas Eakins (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1844–1916 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  • Date: 1900
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 82 x 42 in. (208.3 x 106.7 cm)
  • Credit Line: John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.172
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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