Portrait of Mary Adeline Williams
The contrast between the paintings has been called "Perhaps the most famous example of Eakins's transforming a sitter dramatically while maintaining the effect of severe realism.
[5] Eakins's relationship with Mary Adeline Williams has been the subject of a decades-long debate among art historians.
Goodrich himself thought a sexual relationship was unlikely, believing that Eakins would not be inclined to participate in an extramarital affair in his own home.
It is possible that the portraits reflect Eakins's responsiveness to Williams' varied emotional conditions, rather than recording the effects of a physical relationship.
[2] In it Addie is seen in three-quarters profile in a dark blouse, described as "prison-bar black",[12] with a light scarf around her neck, its bow tied at the front of her throat.
[13] The portrait is unflinching in its verisimilitude to the lines of the sitter's face and her subtle frown,[2] and has been seen as representative of "spinsterhood" for its characterization of a fastidious and prim personality.
[12] In this version Addie Williams is turned fully toward the light, appears less troubled, with more richly colored skin and mouth.
[12][16] The characterization is more intimate, with the angle of the head implying the sense of resignation that Eakins favored in his later portraits.
"[6] Her striped dress is adorned with bows and flounces which hide the body beneath vigorous strokes of red-orange paint; the handling of multi-colored drapery has been compared to virtuoso passages by Eakins' American Impressionist contemporaries.
[10] The Philadelphia Museum of Art received the painting as a gift from Susan Macdowell Eakins and Addie Williams in 1929.
In the austere 1899 portrait of Addie, Woman in Black, there is injury and muted stoicism in the introspective look and in the simple reading of anatomy, in the furrowed brow, the hard outlines of forehead, cheek, and jaw, the strong nose, and the firm mouth.
The picture is inscribed on the back, 'To Addie from Tom of Annie,' a cordial friendly inscription on a gift not negligible.
[18]Regarding the warmth of the second portrait, Eakins biographer Elizabeth Johns described Addie as she "tilts her head and smiles gently to imply that all will be, really, all right.
[12] Eschewing a strictly biographical reading, it is possible that the paintings may also allude to broader cultural assumptions about unmarried women, and to Eakins' interest in visiting variations on a theme.
