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Thomas Eakins was born in Philadelphia, where he would spend most of his life. From 1866-70, he traveled to Paris to study with the French masters. He gained admission to the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts and as his training progressed, his letters to his father reveal a growing antagonism with the French academic's preoccupation with classical subjects. It was in his travels to Spain that he would find his true artistic allies. While visiting the Prado in Madrid, he discovered the tonalities and loose brushstrokes of Diego Velazquez and Jusepe Ribera, both of whom would deeply affect Eakins' paintings throughout his entire career. Although today, Eakins is often heralded as the greatest American painter of the nineteenth century, his artwork found little success in either American collections or by the critics. Americans at the time preferred the bright colors and classical idealism of artists like William Bouguereau and Alexander Cabanel to the muddy tonalities and gritty realism of Eakins.
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