The Biglin Brothers Racing
by Thomas Eakins, 1872
Artwork Details
Details
- Year
- 1872
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 61.2 × 91.6 cm (24.1 × 36.1 in)
Cite or Embed This Work
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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.
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About The Biglin Brothers Racing
This Eakins rowing scene is at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
John and Barney Biglin were professional rowers and celebrities in 1870s America. Eakins painted them several times as champions of the popular sport.
Eakins was an avid rower himself and fascinated by the mechanics of the sport. He used perspective drawings and mathematics to capture boats and water with scientific accuracy.
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