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Thomas Eakins began to take photographs of his subjects and would produce his finished paintings based on the photographs.
Eakins plate glass negatives were nearly lost to history, when his former student; Charles Bregler, rescued hundreds of these plate glass negatives from Eakins former home following the death of Eakins' wife, Susan Macdowell Eakins.
Today, a great number of Eakins photographs can be viewed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia; as well as, other institutions.
During his time, Thomas Eakins personal and professional life was controversial and more recently the art community has reevaluated Eakins' personal life.
For more information on this matter we suggest reading the following article "Hundreds call for reckoning with American artist Thomas Eakins’s troubling legacy" by Benjamin Sutton published on The Art Newspaper.
[ Thomas Eakins' works at the PAFA site & elsewhere, do include art-content which may not be suitable for some audiences. ]
[ Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution ]