Title of Artwork: “Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (The Champion Single Sculls)”
Artwork by Thomas Eakins
Year Created 1871
Summary of Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (The Champion Single Sculls)
An 1871 painting by Thomas Eakins titled Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (also known as The Champion Single Sculls or The Champion, Single Sculls) depicts a rower in a single scull. A piece from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, it’s on display there year-round.
Eakins’s buddy Max Schmitt won the 1870 single sculls tournament, which was held on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and this painting commemorates it.
All About Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (The Champion Single Sculls)
Eakins and Max Schmitt (1843–1900) were classmates at Philadelphia Central High School and close friends. There were nine men’s clubs in the Schuylkill Navy, and twelve of them rowed on the Schuylkill. Schmitt and Eakins were both members of the Pennsylvania Barge Club.
About 300 people formed the Schuylkill Navy in 1858, and by 1859, the group was holding yearly regattas (with a four-year hiatus for the American Civil War). Races began with gigs and barges with six and four oars, but a new lightweight craft, the racing scull, quickly gained popularity.
It was possible to go more quicker and more maneuverably in sculls or shells. Sculls, in contrast to gigs, had their oarlocks mounted on the side of the boat, while gigs had riggers, which were triangular bracing that extended from the sides of the boat.
This made every stroke more efficient and resulted in longer oars. The hulls of ships continued to get narrower as they grew longer and longer, until they were the narrowest they could be while yet maintaining adequate buoyancy and equilibrium.
His sister’s name was “Josie,” and he had a scull named after her. Just below Schmitt’s right hand, the scull’s name is written in the artwork. The Schuylkill Navy’s annual regatta initially featured a single-sculls race (3 miles, 1 turn) in September 1866, and Schmitt won.
When the event was extended to four miles and one turn, he came in second to another Pennsylvania Barge rower. He did not compete in 1868, when his fellow Pennsylvania Barge rowers earned first and second place in the competition. When Schmitt won the single-sculls title once more in June 1869, an Undine Barge Club rower came in second.
Rowers Charles Brossman, Austin Street, and John Lavens Jr. were all from the Pennsylvania Barge Club in 1870. They competed in the championship race in October.
Turtle Rock Light (the lighthouse at the northwest end of Boathouse Row) was the starting point for the three-mile course, which went upstream under the Girard Avenue and Pennsylvania Railroad Connecting Bridges until it reached a stake near the Columbia Railroad Bridge, where it then turned around and headed back downriver to the starting line.
A new Schuylkill River record of 20:00 minutes was set by Schmitt as he re-established himself as the river’s preeminent rower.
This was Schmitt’s last year to defend his title, and Lavens beat him by one second, finishing in 19:59 minutes. During the 1872 single-sculls championship, Schmitt faced off against the legendary Lavens and prevailed, although not by more than a single second. Lavens won again in 1873, when Schmitt sat out.
There were two races between the two in 1874, and Schmitt prevailed. Lavens had never defeated Schmitt in single-sculls competition, therefore Schmitt decided to retire from the sport. However, he and Lavens helped the Pennsylvania Barge Club win the Four-Oared Shell tournament that year. Another unfinished Eakins painting may honour the June 17, 1874 win.
Information Citations
En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.
