Signora Gomez d'Arza

Thomas Eakins

1901–2 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

Although Signora Gomez d’Arza did not belong to Eakins’s immediate circle, she inspired one of his most eloquent portraits. An actress of Italian ancestry, she was married to Enrico Gomez d’Arza, the impresario of a small theater that Eakins and his wife visited in the Italian quarter of Philadelphia. Susan Eakins recalled in 1927: “They were very poor, depending on their acting and Signora’s teaching young actors, for a living. They could not speak English. Mr. Eakins spoke Italian and learned from her that she had had tragic experiences in her early life. She was about thirty years old when the portrait was painted.

Artist

Thomas Eakins

Date

1901–2

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

George A. Hearn Fund, 1927