Many of them had identifiable landmarks, such as those in this painting - the Girard Avenue Bridge and the Railroad Connection Bridge.  
On the brow at the hill on the right of this painting was the real-life mansion home of Samuel Breck.  Art historian Martin Berger argues that this painting's subject allowed the artist to assert his masculinity and it was the first in a series of nearly 30 paintings on the same subject the artist would complete over the next four years.  Many of them had identifiable landmarks, such as those in this painting - the Girard Avenue Bridge and the Railroad Connection Bridge.  The artist depicts himself moving away in the background, and in the foreground is the titular subject who was a practicing lawyer and childhood friend of the artist.  Commemorating an event of October 5, 1870 specifically the Schuylkill [skoo-kill] River Navy Regatta, for 10 points, name this painting of the titular oarsman by Thomas Eakins.
On the brow at the hill on the right of this painting was the real-life mansion home of Samuel Breck.  
Max Schmitt in a Single Scull or The Champion Single Sculls