Thomas Eakins

American painter, photographer, and sculptor, best known for his precise, exacting paintings in the tradition of the Barbizon School and Velásquez. He studied with Gérome and others in Paris from 1866-1869, but returned to Philadelphia in 1870 where he painted local figures and scenes that emphasized emotional truth and visual fact. His interest in science led to probably his best-known painting, "The Gross Clinic" (1875), showing the famous surgeon in the operating theater. The picture shocked contemporaries with its frank depiction of blood. Eakins taught at the Philadelphia Academy of the Arts from 1876-1878, reforming the teaching methods and giving priority to painting from live nude models as opposed to drawing from plaster casts. (ULAN)