1844–1916

Thomas Eakins

Thomas Eakins was born in Philadelphia, where he spent nearly his whole life. After studying in Paris under Jean-Léon Gérôme, he returned home and painted rowing scenes, sporting subjects and penetrating portraits. His large surgical painting The Gross Clinic (1875) is considered a landmark of American art. A dedicated teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, he was forced to resign in 1886 after using a nude male model in a mixed class. He also made photographs.

Where to see Thomas Eakins: Art Institute of Chicago (2 works); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (5 works); National Gallery of Art (5 works).

Public-domain works: Portrait of Mary Adeline Williams, 1899; Riter Fitzgerald, 1895; The Thinker: Portrait of Louis N. Kenton, 1900; Mrs. Mary Arthur, 1900; Carmelita Requena, 1869; Archbishop Diomede Falconio, 1905; Rear Admiral George W. Melville, 1905; Annie C. Lochrey Husson (Mrs. Louis Husson), c. 1905; Louis Husson, 1899; Signora Gomez d'Arza, 1901–2; The Writing Master, 1882; Harriet Husson Carville (Mrs. James G. Carville), 1904.

Exhibitions: Thomas Eakins, Chicago, December 1, 1961 to January 7, 1962.