Eakins Oval

Statue of Washington

Now walk the remaining stretch of the Parkway to the plaza before the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which Lord Dunsany called the most beautiful building in America. The plaza, named for Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), the great Philadelphia painter who is best known for "The Gross Clinic" and "The Agnew Clinic," leads to three fountains. The center fountain, dedicated to Washington, was erected by the Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania. The four figures and the animals overlooking the pools at the base represent four great waterways of America — the Mississippi, the Potomac, the Delaware and the Hudson.