Saddle (Sketch for Cowboys in the Bad Lands)

This sketch of a saddle is preparatory material for Eakins's Cowboys in the Bad Lands project, part of the systematic visual research he undertook before composing his finished paintings. Eakins's approach to painting was deeply methodical — he photographed, made anatomical studies, and produced detailed studies of objects and spaces before resolving a major composition. A saddle as the subject of a dedicated oil sketch might seem eccentric, but it reflects his commitment to understanding every element of his subjects with equal seriousness.

Eakins treats the saddle as a formal object study, rendering its tooled leather surfaces, metal fittings, and structural form with careful descriptive precision. The handling is controlled and methodical, with the characteristic dark ground of his studio work providing the setting.