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1880s

George W. Holmes

Thomas Eakins

American, 1844 - 1916

In the 1850s, George W. Holmes, a landscape painter, gave Eakins his first informal guidance in freehand drawing outside the pragmatic instruction the student had received at Zane Street Grammar School and Central High School. Their close friendship lasted through the 1880s, when Eakins made this photograph of the now-blind artist.

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Thomas Eakins, George W. Holmes, 1880s | Philadelphia Art Museum