Focus on this artwork and explain the Reception and provenance.
Within two weeks of the portrait's completion, director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Harrison Morris solicited it for their annual exhibition. There it won top honors and was awarded the Temple Gold Medal. Critics acclaimed it as "quite extraordinary in its cold, deliberate analysis of a human personality," and the awards committee wrote that "...it may be doubted that [this award] has ever been given for a more solid and substantial piece of painting."Despite the academy's acclaim, Eakins was still bitter over having been forced to resign from the Academy 18 years prior. A controversial teacher, Eakins had incited the ire of the school administration by breaking various Academy policies, such as having students pose in the nude for himself and each other. This came to a head when he was formally reprimanded for removing a loincloth from a male model in front of female students. Further accusations of sexual impropriety – such as a private demonstration of "pelvic motions" to Amelia Van Buren – soon surfaced against Eakins, and chairman of instruction Edward Coates asked for and received his resignation.In what would become a famous incident, Eakins appeared at the formal award ceremony in his bicycling outfit – a raggedy sweater and short trousers. He was heard to tell Coates, who had since risen to the rank of academy president, "I think you've got a heap of impudence to give me a medal." After receiving his award he immediately left by bicycle for the Philadelphia Mint, where he had the gold medal melted down for cash value. Returning home, he laid the $73 he had received from the mint on the table in front of his wife Susan Eakins, proclaiming "Sue, here's my Temple Gold Medal."In early 1904, the portrait was presented to Elder after being shown at the academy. It received a more mixed reception there, as Bishop Moeller reported in a letter to Eakins: "...some who have seen the picture do not like the Archbishop's expression, but that was not your fault. You gave the Archbishop the expression he had while you were doing the work."Elder died in October 1904, and after his death the portrait remained the property of the Archdiocese, passing down from one Archbishop of Cincinnati to the next. In 1978 it was purchased by the Cincinnati Art Museum, where it remains in 2024.
Amelia Van Buren Archbishop of Cincinnati Susan Eakins Temple Gold Medal Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Cincinnati Art Museum Philadelphia Mint portrait Cincinnati Edward Coates