David Wilson Jordan

Maker Samuel Murray (American, 1869 - 1941)

Collections

American Sculpture

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Dateca. 1895

Mediumpainted plaster

Dimensions13 7/8 × 6 3/8 × 4 5/8 in. (35.2 × 16.2 × 11.7 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation

Status

Not on view

Label TextSamuel Murray depicted David Wilson Jordan standing casually, with his left arm akimbo and his right leaning on a cane. Both Murray and Thomas Eakins (whose portrait of Jordan is to the right) portray Jordan as slightly aloof or haughty: Murray by tilting his head upward and Eakins by depicting him with his back toward the viewer.
Murray and Jordan were students of Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and probably met through him. Following Eakins's lead, Murray studied anatomy, even making casts of body parts to use as models while sculpting. Murray's commitment to realism is reflected in Jordan's detailed facial features, but also in less consequential aspects of the composition, such as the roll of the jacket lapels and the draping of the trousers.

Object number99.43