Why did Thomas Eakins create sculptures as well as paintings?

Thomas Eakins’s foray into sculpture was primarily a natural extension of his deep-seated fascination with anatomy and the mechanics of locomotion.1

His transition into the medium was specifically spurred by a commission in 1879 to paint Fairman Rogers driving a four-in-hand coach. To accurately capture the movement of the horses, Eakins conducted an intensive study of equine anatomy, which led him to create a series of sculpted wax sketches of horses in motion.1

While Eakins is best known as an American painter who contributed significantly to 19th-century Realism, his artistic practice was defined by a broad range of interests—including photography and sports—that he used to better understand and represent the physical world. His work in sculpture, though not widely appreciated during his lifetime, served as a vital tool for his objective, scientific approach to depicting human and animal figures.12