Mayor Says Gross Clinic To Stay in Philadelphia
Last updated Thursday, December 21, 2006 2:08 PM CST in News
By The Morning News
Two Philadelphia art museums secured enough money to thwart a bid by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton for the painting "The Gross Clinic," Philadelphia Mayor John Street announced Thursday.
Walton and the National Gallery of Art in Washington had agreed to purchase the painting by 19th-century artist Thomas Eakins from Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University for $68 million.
The university gave people in Philadelphia interested in keeping the painting until Dec. 26 to match the bid.
Street said in a news conference that the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts would be able to match the bid through a combination of private donations and bank loans.
Terms of the financing were undisclosed.
Fund-raising officials said they had raised about $30 million by Wednesday.
"It was important that this great work of art stay right here in our city," Street said.
The Annenberg Foundation is donating $10 million toward the effort. H.F. Lenfest, Joseph Neubauer and The Pew Charitable Trusts will each donate $3 million. In addition, the drive to secure the painting has resulted to date in more than 2,000 donations all over the country, including 30 states and the District of Columbia, Street said.
“Eakins iconic painting, The Gross Clinic, is by a Philadelphian, about Philadelphians, and set in Philadelphia,” Street said. “It belongs in Philadelphia, just as much as the Liberty Bell and our sports teams. We extend profound thanks to the citizens of Philadelphia who made it possible to keep this important piece of our cultural heritage right here where it belongs. What a remarkable gift in this season of giving!”
The Gross Clinic is a dramatic 8 foot by 6 footpainting of Dr. Samuel D. Gross, distinguished surgeon and first chair of surgery at Thomas Jefferson University’s Medical College, performing bone surgery in front of his students. Eakins, a Philadelphia native, who was for many years an instructor and a director of the academy, painted the portrait in 1875 after studying anatomy under Gross.
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LMAO!!! wrote on Dec 21, 2006 4:39 PM: