A Street Scene in Seville

Thomas Eakins American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 763

Thomas Eakins, the acclaimed Philadelphia realist painter, produced this ambitious multi-figure work while still a student. Traveling in Spain, he set up an easel on the roof of his Seville hotel to paint what he described as “the most difficult kind of a picture”—a subject in full sunlight. Eakins hired a family of street musicians, the Requenas, to pose for him; the daughter, Carmelita, also inspired a spirited oil sketch (1979.135.2). The finished painting, A Street Scene in Seville, which the artist worked on for more than three months, represented an important milestone in Eakins’ education, challenging him to adapt his rigorous academic practice to the outdoors.

A Street Scene in Seville, Thomas Eakins (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1844–1916 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Oil on canvas, American

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A Street Scene in Seville, Thomas Eakins (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1844–1916 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Oil on canvas, American
A Street Scene in Seville, Thomas Eakins (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1844–1916 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Oil on canvas, American

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