Portrait of Mary Adeline Williams

Thomas Eakins aimed to paint the human figure with uncompromising realism, executing likenesses that focus on introspection and psychological depth. A family friend, Mary Adeline Williams sat for this portrait in 1899, a year before she would move into the Philadelphia home of Eakins and his wife, artist Susan MacDowell Eakins. Although the composition presents Addie (as she was known) as straight-laced and severe, she was described by Susan Eakins as active and engaged—riding bicycles, going to art exhibitions, and socializing between the sittings for this work.