Realism Abroad

Thomas Eakins

The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull)

1871

Oil on canvas, 81.9 × 117.5 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

His friend Max Schmitt rests his oars on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, in clear, raking light.

• It is believed to mark Schmitt's racing victory of October 1870.
• Eakins put himself in the picture, rowing farther back.
• The Met calls it the work that launched his career.
• Modern sport and a real place, worked out with careful perspective and light.

Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Public Domain (Met Open Access)