Oil painting -> List of Painters -> Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins

Early Days:

   Eakins was born and lived most of his life in Philadelphia. He was the first child of Caroline Cowperthwait Eakins, a woman of English and Dutch descent, and Benjamin Eakins, a writing master and calligraphy teacher of Scots-Irish ancestry. Benjamin Eakins grew up on a farm in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the son of a weaver. He was successful in his chosen profession, and moved to Philadelphia in the early 1840s to raise his family. Thomas Eakins observed his father at work and by twelve demonstrated skill in precise line drawing, perspective, and the use of a grid to lay out a careful design, skills he later applied to his art.

Personal Details Name Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins Place of birth Philadelphia Date of Birth July 25, 1844 Date of Death June 25, 1916 (aged 71) Nationality American Field Painting Training Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, École des Beaux-Arts Movement Realism Works Max Schmitt in a Single Scull, 1871, The Gross Clinic, 1875, The Agnew Clinic, 1889, William Rush and His Model, 1908 Awards National Academician

Career:

   Eakins's first works upon his return from Europe included a large group of rowing scenes, eleven oils and watercolors in all, of which the first and most famous is Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (1871; also known as The Champion Single Sculling). Both his subject and his technique drew attention. His selection of a contemporary sport was “a shock to the artistic conventionalities of the city”. Eakins placed himself in the painting, in a scull behind Schmitt, his name inscribed on the boat.

   Works Of Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins: