William Rush Carving His Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River 1908

Thomas Eakins made this painting of William Rush carving his Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River without a date, the marks are so warm, almost like sepia photographs. It’s all about the brown, like a Rembrandt, but the approach feels very modern. The texture is pretty scrubby, not smooth. You can see where he’s loaded up the paint, like around the form of the statue itself. The figure is very bright against the dark background. There are lots of hidden details in there. Look at the old woman on the left; she's so still, with what appears to be needlework. Eakins is playing with space and depth through tone and colour. Then there’s the bright white form, a single spot lit from behind, standing out, her spine strong. Maybe he was thinking about Manet, who was doing really edgy stuff. Maybe Eakins liked Courbet. But really, it's hard to say. Art's like that - you just never know for sure what an artist is thinking!