“Max Schmitt in a Single Scull,” painted by Thomas Eakins in 1871, depicts a rower’s moment of ease on the Schuylkill River, writes John Wilmerding for The Wall Street Journal.

The painting that is exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum’s American Wing is also known as “The Champion Single Sculls” and represents the artist’s first major work.

Eakins, whose father grew up in Valley Forge, showed exceptional talent for drawing from an early age. His parents enrolled him in Central High School in Philadelphia for its substantial curriculum in art and science. Later, he entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he took life classes drawing the nude model.

His future career was further influenced by the lectures on human anatomy at Jefferson Medical College.

For his first works, he focused on family and friends. While painting the “Max Schmitt,” Eakins chose the Schuylkill River as its setting.

The completed work blends several traditional subjects, leaving the viewer wondering if the painting is a landscape, history, portrait, genre, or allegorical?

Read more about the painting in The Wall Street Journal by clicking here.