He was a friend and patron of the artist
Thomas Eakins, and owned the painting
Whistling for Plover. The Philadelphia Chippendale chairs seen in several Eakins paintings – such as
William Rush Carving his Allegorical Figure of Schuylkill River (1877) and the bas-relief
Knitting (1883) – were borrowed from Mitchell. Following Eakins's 1886 forced resignation from the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Mitchell may have recommended the artist's trip to the
Badlands of
South Dakota.
