merits of the two works are not, however, as important as the fact that the West already shows the artist leaning toward Europe. The painting is part of West's, and American society's, inclination to reflect their relationship with Europe, England specifically, in their portraits. Eakins' Miss Van Buren, on the other hand, was painted long after he had completed his studies in Europe where he had been particularly impressed by Rembrandt and by the great Spanish painters Velasquez and Ribera. He said of the Spanish painters, "Oh, what a satisfaction it gives me to see the good Spanish work, so good, so strong, so reasonable, so free from every affectation,"4 Eakins portrait demonstrates the influence of European painting but shows how he had transformed it into something uniquely personal and American.
Though West's greatest fame was achieved as a historical painter, he was also a popular portraitist and it was his early work in the genre that attracted the support of wealthy Philadelphians who paid for his schooling in Rome. In the early biog
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