Existing comment:
Thomas Eakins
The Artist and His Father Hunting Reed Birds on the Cohansey Marshes, ca. 1874
Sport was an important subject and lifelong pursuit for Thomas Eakins. The artist and his family frequented a hunting cottage outside Philadelphia near the confluence of the Cohansey and Delaware rivers in southwestern New Jersey. The marshy area provided an ideal habitat for reed birds such as the sora rail, which is probably the game bird depicted in the Eakins sketch also on view in this gallery.
Hunting in marshes requires intense cooperation between the pusher who guides the boat and spots the quarry, and the hunter who shoots for the game; in this case the artist is shown expertly balancing the boat so that his father may shoot. This painting, inscribed "BENJAMIN EAKINS FILIUS PINXIT" (painted by the son of Benjamin Eakins), offers a clear expression of Eakins's deep respect for his father, who shared his son's love of sport and supported him during his early career. Father and son remained extremely close until the elder Eakins died in 1899. |