Letitia Wilson Jordan
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Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Letitia Wilson Jordan was the sister of Thomas Eakins’s friend and student David Wilson Jordan. Eakins had seen her at a party and was so taken with the young woman that he asked her to pose for him in the same outfit she had worn that evening.
The thoughtful, distanced expression on Jordan’s face evidences Eakins’s interest in conveying the emotional essence of his subjects. The careful modeling of the sitter’s body is characteristic of Eakins’s unflinching naturalism.
Caption
Thomas Eakins American, 1844–1916. Letitia Wilson Jordan, 1888. Oil on canvas, 59 15/16 x 40 3/16 in. (152.3 x 102 cm) frame: 68 7/16 x 48 11/16 x 4 1/2 in. (173.8 x 123.7 x 11.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 27.50. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 27.50_SL1.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Letitia Wilson Jordan
Date
1888
Geography
Place made: United States
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
59 15/16 x 40 3/16 in. (152.3 x 102 cm) frame: 68 7/16 x 48 11/16 x 4 1/2 in. (173.8 x 123.7 x 11.4 cm)
Signatures
Unsigned
Inscriptions
Inscribed lower right: "TO MY FRIEND / D.W. JORDAN / EAKINS.88"
Credit Line
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Accession Number
27.50
Rights
No known copyright restrictions
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Frequent Art Questions
Can you give me more info on Letitia Jordan?
Jordan was the sister of a painter who was one of Eakins' students. She married a Connecticut clergyman named Leonard Woolsey Bacon. Eakins was so taken by her at a social gathering that he insisted he had to paint her. She is dressed in typical fashion for the 1880’s, wearing a sleeveless black evening gown and bright red choker, an accessory popularized by Alexandra, Princess of Wales.
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