Thomas Eakins
After studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Thomas Eakins returned to his native Philadelphia. Although he is considered one of the most important American artists of his time, he primarily built his reputation as a teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Eakins insisted that his students paint directly from live models and believed in teaching male and female artists together. His work is recognized today for its commitment to unbiased realism and precise details.
What makes a good teacher?
Eakins’s portraits are distinguished by their unvarnished realism, anatomical precision, and attention to detail. In this portrait of Philadelphia coal merchant Frank Jay St. John, Eakins masterfully evoked the energy and impatience of his subject, who still wears his overcoat and clutches his hat. St. John is portrayed with the tools of his trade—two grate bars (upon which coal burns to power steamship boilers), for which he had received a patent in 1894.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd
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