Conservation-restoration of Thomas Eakins' The Gross Clinic
Emergency treatment was undertaken in 1960 and 1961 by Theodor Siegel, conservator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to correct damage from previous restorations.
The anesthetist, Dr. W. Joseph Hearn, sits at the head of the operating table, holding a chloroform soaked rag over the patient's face.
Work on the painting likely began sometime in April 1875, as evidenced by a letter from Eakins to his friend Earl Shinn in which he declares, "What elates me more is that I have just got a new picture blocked in and it is very far better than anything I have ever done.
[2] The work was likely finished by Christmas of 1875, evidenced by the gift of a portrait sketch of author and friend Robert C.V. Meyers, who modeled for the painting.
However, it was suggested by a correspondent of New York's Medical Record and by William Clark in the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph that the painting's graphic nature caused several members of the jury to feel faint.
[4][2] On November 11, 2006, it was announced that the board of Thomas Jefferson University (formerly Jefferson Medical College) voted to sell the painting to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and to Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton's planned Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, for a record $68 million.
"[4] Protests against the sale held in November and December 2006 were organized by Philadelphia artists Stanley Bielen, Charles Cushing, and Patrick Connors.
[2] Philadelphia mayor John F. Street threatened to declare the painting a historic landmark, possibly tying up the sale in court.
[2] The university gave local museums and government agencies the chance to match the $68 million sale price and keep the painting in Philadelphia by December 26, 2006.
[6] The first recorded conservation-restoration treatment to The Gross Clinic took place sometime in 1915 by restorer T. H. Stevenson at the behest of Jefferson Medical College.
A letter from Eakins to Jefferson Medical College Dean Ross V. Patterson details her frustrations:[7] The photograph [the color reproduction] presents an operation being done by Dr.
[2] Horner removed the linen lining attached by Stevenson in 1915 and replaced it with two, 4-by-6 1/2-foot pieces of plywood which were butted in the center and nailed to a wooden framework.
[1] The framework was the first part of the 1940 treatment to be removed, revealing over 500 nails which had been causing a large portion of the damage to the painting's surface.
Taking place over the course of several weeks, the removal of this varnish allowed conservators to view what was left of Eakins' original paint and what had been retouched by earlier treatments.
Following the completion of the treatment an exhibition, An Eakins Masterpiece Restored: Seeing The Gross Clinic Anew, was held between July 23, 2010, and January 9, 2011, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
[8][9] The use of x-radiography and infrared reflectography prior to the 2010 treatment revealed a wealth of information about Eakins' technique and the creation of The Gross Clinic.
The clinic's clerk, Dr. Franklin West, was initially seen taking his notes at a lower position but was moved up for the final composition.
X-radiography also revealed an initial stripe across the bottom of the painting, likely intended to serve as the wall circling the seats of the amphitheater, which was replaced with a view under the surgeon's table in the final composition.
[2] Following the completion of the 2010 conservation treatment, the Philadelphia Museum of Art opened the exhibition "An Eakins Masterpiece Restored: Seeing The Gross Clinic Anew", which ran from July 3, 2010, to January 9, 2011.
