Sketch for Portrait of Leslie W. Miller

Leslie W. Miller was principal of the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art and a prominent educator in the applied arts. Eakins's sketch for his portrait reflects the network of Philadelphia intellectual and artistic life in which both men moved. Miller championed arts education and design, and Eakins's attentive treatment of him places him alongside scientists, surgeons, and other professionals whom the painter saw as exemplars of purposeful American life. The sketch is preparatory for a larger finished portrait and gives insight into Eakins's method of laying out the essential character before completing the final canvas.

The sketch establishes the essential compositional arrangement — head position, tonal scheme, costume — with confident directness. Paint is applied in broad strokes without the careful surface modelling of the final portrait. The face receives more attention than surrounding areas; the background is barely indicated.