Thomas Cowperthwaite Eakins (July 25, 1844, Philadelphia - June 25, 1916, Philadelphia) is an American artist, photographer, educator, and the largest (along with Winslow Homer) representative of American realistic painting.
In the painting of Eakins and his photographs, a nude and half-naked body (most often male) occupies an outstanding place. He owns a lot of images of athletes, especially oarsmen and wrestlers. Eikins was particularly interested in the transmission of movements of the human body, which is partly due to his fascination with photography; many of the famous paintings by Eakins (including the Arcadia in 1883) were preceded by photographic "sketches". The artist traveled to Europe, where he admired the works of Spanish realists Diego Velazquez and Juan Ribera. It was in the old masters that he learned the energy of pictorial realism. He often used the effect of light and shadow to produce a dramatic impression, as Rembrandt did. Creativity Eakins was not recognized during the life of the artist, but the next generation appreciated his realistic style.