Maggie's Farm

A quote from Allan Gurganus' The Lessons of Likeness: being a true history of Thomas Eakin's Portrait of Walt Whitman:

This oil portrait braids the sagas of two self-described toughs: Walt Whitman very much of Brooklyn-New York and Thomas Eakins, a definite Philadelphian. A couple of American pioneers, the John Muir of literature and at least the Kit Carson of 19th century Main Line aesthetics! Of all the portraits depicting our nation’s outsized Gandolphian wizards, I have fixed on this one for the simplest reason: I love the work of both sitter and artist. Their efforts go on changing and enlarging my own efforts. Respect and awe leading to love—surely that’s at least the beginning of an understanding?

Image: Walt Whitman, shortly before his death, by Thomas Eakins