Archbishop Diomede Falconio

Thomas Eakins created the oil-on-canvas portrait of Archbishop Diomede Falconio in 1905. Following the artist's death in 1916, the work passed by inheritance to his widow, Susan Macdowell Eakins, who retained it in Philadelphia until at least 1923. In October 1928, Reginald Marsh of New York purchased the painting from Mrs. Eakins.

The work subsequently changed hands through the William Macbeth Gallery, which acquired it from Marsh on March 25, 1943, and sold it five days later to Stephen C. Clark of New York. Clark held the portrait until 1946, when he gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remains part of the collection.

The painting is part of the National Gallery of Art’s collection in Washington, D.C., where it has been since its donation in 1946. Its provenance traces from the artist to his wife, then to Reginald Marsh in 1928, followed by a sale through the Macbeth Gallery to Stephen C. Clark in 1943, before the 1946 gift to the museum. No accession number is provided in the available documentation, and the sources do not record any exhibition history for the work.

This painting, titled Archbishop Diomede Falconio, is an oil portrait created by the American artist Thomas Eakins in 1905. The artwork depicts its namesake, Diomede Falconio, an ecclesiastical figure. Executed on canvas, the piece exemplifies Eakins's dedication to realistic representation within the genre of portraiture, capturing the subject in a formal, seated pose.

Eakins portrays Archbishop Diomede Falconio seated, dressed in his formal attire. The artist focused intently on rendering the specific features of Falconio's face and the textures of his garments. This meticulous attention to detail highlights Eakins's characteristic approach to portraiture, aiming to convey the individual presence and character of his sitters rather than idealized forms.