# Study for "The Dancing Lesson": The Boy

**Thomas Eakins** (American, 1844–1916)  
probably 1877  
oil on canvas  
overall: 53.3 x 23.2 cm (21 x 9 1/8 in.) framed: 61.6 x 31 x 3.2 cm (24 1/4 x 12 3/16 x 1 1/4 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985.64.15. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.66413.html).

## About this work

This oil sketch studies the young boy who dances at the centre of Thomas Eakins’s watercolour The Dancing Lesson of 1878, now in the Metropolitan Museum. Eakins prepared the composition with separate studies of each figure from life, working out their poses, proportions and lighting before transferring them to the final sheet. Such studies reveal the careful, almost scientific method behind his realism, as well as his sympathetic attention to his sitters.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Thomas Eakins painted this (probably 1877), aged 33. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Thomas Eakins](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/thomas-eakins)

American, 1844–1916; born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Eakins studied in Paris under Jean-Léon Gérôme and was impressed in Spain by Velázquez and Ribera, then returned to Philadelphia, where he spent his life. He painted rowers, boxers and his city’s doctors and scholars with a frank realism grounded in anatomy, perspective and, later, photography. A demanding teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, he was forced to resign in 1886 over his use of nude models. Max Schmitt in a Single Scull was the first of his rowing pictures.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was 33
- Real size: about 21 × 9 in (53 × 23 cm). The 16 × 20 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: boy
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1605.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1605/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/study-for-the-dancing-lesson-the-boy-nga-66413).