The Right Reverend James F. Loughlin,

1902

Eakins’s arresting deeply felt portrayal of a prominent Philadelphia prelate derives much of its impact from the tension of the portrait’s grand scale, its rich palette, and the sitter’s elaborate clerical attire against his introspective, sober, even mournful demeanor. Monsignor Loughlin was renowned as a scholar not only of doctrine but also of history, philosophy, and ethics. He taught at Saint Charles Seminary in the city’s Overbrook neighborhood, where the artist often visited among the faculty, which included men of significant intellectual achievement. Although a lifelong agnostic, Eakins painted some fourteen portraits of esteemed Roman Catholic clerics there, including, like this penetrating image, several power- fully affecting works, distinctive for their consistent refusal to flatter the sitter.