Hopkinson's Portrait of Eliot the Best, Says Forbes, Apropos of Presentation by the Student Body Today

Professor E. W. Forbes '95, Director of the Fogg Art Museum, has expressed an enthusiastic opinion of the portrait of President Eliot by Charles Hopkinson, nephew of the feted nonagenarian. This canvass, a reproduction of which appears on the front page of the CRIMSON Pictorial Section this morning, will be presented today to the University by the students in all departments.

"The students of all Departments of the University," said Professor Forbes, "have united together in making a gift which is of great value to the University. Charles Hopkinson, nephew of President Eliot, has painted the picture which will probably be the best representation of the impressive presence of President Eliot that will go down to posterity.

"There have been other portraits of President Eliot including Mr. Sargent's full length portrait," he continued, "but none of them, it is fair to say, have caught the spirit of Mr. Eliot so successfully as Mr. Hopkinson's. The general effect of the picture is columnar. The President sits erect looking straight out of the picture with the characteristic frank, forcible and penetrating look in his eyes. The picture was painted three years ago, and so it represents President Eliot as an older man than the average graduate remembers him, but as we all know time has shot its bolts with comparatively little effect at Mr. Eliot, and the astonishing force and vigor of his character are well portrayed. His hands are held in characteristic position; on the table to the left are books and papers, the papers painted with singularly luminous and happy touch. A red curtain on the left hand upper part of the picture is balanced by the red table cover showing in the lower right hand corner.

"The proportions of the picture are good, and the relation of the figure to the surroundings is well composed."