365 Days of Art: June 19 – Young Eakins Writes Regretful Letter

The Biglin Brothers Racing, Thomas Eakins, 1872

June 19, 1867

While studying in Paris, Thomas Eakins writes a letter home to his sister Fanny. It’s mostly a discussion of Latin tenses, but near the end he gets more personal:

I regret having wasted so much of my time from want of experience, but everyone must do bad things before starting on a right road”.

This is for sure the Artist’s Lament, but keep in mind–he’s all of 22 years old.