Greek Girls Bathing
1872–77
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View on museum website →Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
18 1/4 x 58 3/4 in. (46.4 x 149.2 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1958
Accession Number
58.28
Tags
Art Historical Context
Elihu Vedder's *Greek Girls Bathing*1872–77) is a captivating oil on canvas that evokes the timeless allure of classical antiquity through an American lens. Measuring an expansive 18¼ × 58¾ inches, its panoramic format draws viewers into a serene, horizontal composition, ideal for immersing audiences in intimate, dreamlike scenes. Vedder, a prominent figure in 19th-century American art was deeply influenced by his travels in Europe and Italy, where he absorbed Renaissance and classical motifs, blending them with a poetic, Pre-Raphaelite sensibility. The painting's title and themes of bathing ...
About the Artist
Elihu Vedder · 1836–1923
Elihu Vedder was born on February 26, 1836, in New York City to Dr. Elihu Vedder Sr., a dentist, and his cousin Elizabeth Vedder. As a young boy, his family relocated to Cuba for his father's ventures, an experience that sparked his artistic aspirations amid the Caribbean landscapes. He later divided his time between a boarding school and his maternal grandfather Alexander Vedder's home in Schenec...