The Biglin Brothers Turning the Stake1873 · Study 1927.1984

Context from the museum

Eakins's painting celebrates athletic teamwork while commemorating an actual event, a famous rowing race that took place on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia during May 1872. Throngs of spectators line the riverbank and watch as Barney and John Biglin negotiate the tricky turn around a stake marking the halfway point in the contest. Their competitors, seen in the middle distance at the right, lag behind. The Biglin brothers won the race, cementing their status as the most celebrated oarsmen of the era. Trained in the United States and France, Eakins spent almost his entire artistic career in his hometown of Philadelphia. He is renowned for the unsentimental realism in his paintings, whose compositions he developed through painstakingly prepared figure and perspective drawings.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

A detail to notice

Rowing was among the most popular spectator sports in the U.S. during the 1870s.

Observation supplied by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected unframed measurement for The Biglin Brothers Turning the Stake is 151.4 cm wide and 101.3 cm high, equivalent to approximately 59.6 × 39.9 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 1.49:1. The rectangular bounding area is 1.53 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 50.5% of the span before adding a frame. A centered placement leaves approximately 74.3 cm on each side before adding a frame. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With The Biglin Brothers Turning the Stake in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, oil on canvas, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this horizontal composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 151.4 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?