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The Gross Clinic (photos by M. McClellan for GPTMC)

Thomas Eakins is one of Philadelphia’s most beloved and acclaimed natives. He spent the bulk of his life living, studying and working right here in the city. Several years ago, when Thomas Jefferson University attempted to sell his most renowned work, The Gross Clinic, to an out of state buyer, art lovers from across the region leapt into action.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts were able to secure the funds to match the distant offer and now own jointly own the piece. It has undergone extensive cleaning and restoration and will be on display at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art through January 9, 2011, in an exhibition called Seeing ‘The Gross Clinic’ Anew.

The exhibition include other works by Eakins, as well as artifacts from the 1876 American Centennial Exposition, where the work was originally shown. Most notably is The Agnew Clinic, a painting commissioned by medical graduates from the University of Pennsylvania to honor their professor, Dr. D. Hayes Agnew.

This piece was done 14 years after The Gross Clinic and allowed Eakins the opportunity to work on the largest canvas of his career. It is the first time that these two paintings have hung together in Philadelphia in nearly 80 years.

Next year, The Gross Clinic will move to Pafa, where it will become part of an exhibition designed to explore the relationship between Philadelphia’s arts and medical communities. That show is entitled Anatomy/Academy.

Special tickets are not required for Seeing ‘The Gross Clinic’ Anew. Admission is included in the museum’s general admission fee. To see more images from this exhibition, visit our Flickr set from the press preview.