# Portrait of Mary Adeline Williams

- By: Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916)
- Date: 1899
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 61 × 50.8 cm (24 × 20 1/16 in.)
- Culture: Philadelphia
- Credit line: Friends of American Art Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/31285)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/8cb9f5ea-c955-96fd-c2d6-c720b0dbf7d4/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Thomas Eakins aimed to paint the human figure with uncompromising realism, executing likenesses that focus on introspection and psychological depth. A family friend, Mary Adeline Williams sat for this portrait in 1899, a year before she would move into the Philadelphia home of Eakins and his wife, artist Susan MacDowell Eakins. Although the composition presents Addie (as she was known) as straight-laced and severe, she was described by Susan Eakins as active and engaged—riding bicycles, going to art exhibitions, and socializing between the sittings for this work.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0