The Biglin Brothers Racing

Thomas Eakins was fascinated by rowing and created over a dozen paintings of scullers on Philadelphia's Schuylkill River. This 1872 canvas shows professional oarsmen John and Barney Biglin in a pair-oared shell, their strokes perfectly synchronized.

Eakins combined direct observation with detailed perspective drawings, calculating reflections and angles with scientific precision. The result is both photographic in its accuracy and poetic in its stillness.

The painting exemplifies Eakins's belief that American artists should paint American life. Rowing was the premier spectator sport of the era, and the Biglin brothers were celebrities. The work is at the National Gallery of Art.