1900

Antiquated Music (Portrait of Sarah Sagehorn Frishmuth)

American, 1844 - 1916

Mrs. Frishmuth (1842–1926) was a passionate collector of antique musical instruments and early American artifacts, textiles, and samplers, many of which are now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1897, she gave a large part of her collection to the museum at the University of Pennsylvania (now the University Museum). Eakins very likely hoped that his grand portrait would be acquired by the university to hang with her donation. The university did accept the painting on loan, but eventually returned it to the artist after Eakins removed it repeatedly to send to other exhibitions.