Artwork
Study for "The Dancing Lesson": The Boy
Study for "The Dancing Lesson": The Boy is an oil painting by the American Impressionist artist Thomas Eakins. It dates from 1877 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
The narrow vertical format emphasizes the standing pose of the boy, isolating the subject against an undefined background to concentrate on form and posture.
Executed probably in 1877, this study is an oil painting on canvas. The work measures 53.3 cm in height and 23.2 cm in width. As a preparatory piece for "The Dancing Lesson," the composition focuses on a single male figure, rendered with the artist's characteristic attention to anatomical structure.
The narrow vertical format emphasizes the standing pose of the boy, isolating the subject against an undefined background to concentrate on form and posture.
History & Provenance
The painting, probably executed in 1877, passed from Arthur B. Frost to his son John Frost before entering the New York art market through Joseph Bryant prior to 1945. Harry Shaw Newman handled it in 1945, after which M. Michelotti consigned it on 24 January 1946 to M. Knoedler & Co., New York, which purchased it on 18 February 1946. Knoedler sold the work on 15 January 1956 to Babcock Galleries, New York, from which Joseph Katz of Baltimore and New York acquired it.
Following Katz's death in 1958, the painting remained with his estate by 1961 and passed to his son Leslie Katz in Brooklyn by 1963. Leslie Katz consigned it on 13 January 1964 to M. Knoedler & Co., which sold it on 2 January 1965 to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. The Mellons later gave the work to the National Gallery of Art in 1985.
The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Its inventory number is 1985.45.1. The work has been exhibited in the "Thomas Eakins: A Retrospective Exhibition" in 1961, as recorded in the exhibition catalog. It was later included in the "American Realists from the National Gallery of Art, 1850-1950" exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1985.
The painting was also featured in the "American Masters: Thomas Eakins" exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1999.
Overview
Thomas Eakins produced this oil on canvas around 1877 as a preparatory study for his larger composition titled “The Dancing Lesson.” The modestly sized work captures a solitary boy in an interior space, rendered in the artist’s characteristic realist manner.
Subject & Meaning
The figure is a young boy, casually dressed, standing with a relaxed posture that suggests a moment of anticipation. His stillness and subtle tension convey a sense of waiting, hinting at the narrative role he would assume in the final, more complex scene.
Artist & collection
Artist
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator.
