Old Recollections

An obscure figure, this Philadelphia artist studied at the Pennsylvania Academy from 1876 to 1882, the period when Thomas Eakins gained both prominence and infamy as an instructor. Eakins’s influence can be seen in this work, with its simple, earth-toned background and sensitive, closely observed portrait style. This particular image is reminiscent of Eakins’s portrait of Rudolph Hennig, The Cello Player, currently on view in Gallery 9. Hahs died young, at the age of twenty nine, in the same year he painted this work.