1896

Portrait of Lucy Lewis

American, 1844 - 1916

Thomas Eakins, famous for the brutal honesty of his portraits, made an exception for Lucy Lewis, who stands as an exemplar of late nineteenth-century feminine beauty. Despite this anomaly, Lewis is typical of Eakins's sitters in other ways. She was well educated, middle class, and active as a teacher and a social advocate. When Eakins painted her portrait in 1896, Lewis was teaching at the Girls' Normal School in Philadelphia. She later served on the Board of Directors of the Starr Centre Association of Philadelphia, a social agency that provided services to Philadelphia's poorest communities.