The Gross Clinic

In the middle of Thomas Eakins's Gross Clinic, Dr. Samuel Gross has paused mid-lecture with a scalpel in his right hand. The scalpel is bright red. The fingers are bright red. That was the problem. The Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia rejected the painting in 1876. Members of the selection jury reportedly felt faint on seeing it. Gross is teaching five doctors a new surgical procedure he had developed for bone infections. Off to the left in the shadow, the patient's mother has been allowed into the amphitheatre to watch her son operated on. She is cringing away, her face hidden in her hands. Now at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia @philamuseumart