Artwork
Young Girl Meditating
Young Girl Meditating is a watercolor work on paper by the American Impressionist artist Thomas Eakins. It dates from 1877 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1877, *Young Girl Meditating* is a modestly sized work executed in watercolor and gouache on off‑white wove paper. The piece belongs to the American Wing collection and exemplifies Thomas Eakins’s interest in intimate, observational portraiture during his early Philadelphia period.
Subject & Meaning
The composition features a young girl seated at a plain table, her gaze lowered and hands gently clasped. The subdued pose and tranquil expression suggest a moment of inward reflection, inviting viewers to contemplate the quiet concentration of everyday life rather than a narrative scene.
Technique & Style
Eakins employs a delicate combination of watercolor’s translucency and gouache’s opacity, allowing subtle tonal shifts across the figure’s skin and clothing. The brushwork is relatively loose, aligning the work with the lighter, atmospheric tendencies of American Impressionism while retaining the precise observation characteristic of his realist training.
History & Provenance
The watercolor was produced while Eakins was establishing his reputation in Philadelphia, often drawing subjects from his personal circle of friends and relatives. It entered the museum’s American Wing collection through a mid‑20th‑century acquisition, reflecting the institution’s effort to represent the artist’s early explorations in water media.
Artist & collection
Artist
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator.
