Provenance
Acquired c. 1950 in Italy by Dr. P. Herbert Acuff [d. 1951], Knoxville;[1] purchased from his estate by Dr. E. Charles Sienknecht, Dr. B.M. Overholt, and Dr. J. Gilbert Eblen, all of Knoxville, and donated 1957 to the Knoxville Academy of Medicine; gift 2006 to NGA.
[1] The provenance information was supplied by Dr. John M. Burkhart, representing the Knoxville Academy of Medicine, in a letter of 30 November 2006 to Florence Coman, and a memorandum of 3 December 1989 from the Academy records (letter and copy of the memorandum in NGA curatorial files).
Accession Number
2006.158.1
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 53.3 x 43.2 cm (21 x 17 in.) | framed: 70.49 x 60.33 x 4.76 cm (27 3/4 x 23 3/4 x 1 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of the Knoxville Academy of Medicine, Knoxville, Tennessee
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Canvas French
Background & Context
Background Story
Henri Gervex (1852-1929) was a French painter known for his academic paintings that combined the technical precision of the French academic tradition with the modern subjects of Parisian life. Study for 'Autopsy at the Hotel-Dieu' from 1876 is a preparatory study for a painting depicting an autopsy at the Hotel-Dieu, the ancient Parisian hospital, in the precise, observational manner that distinguishes Gervex's academic painting from the more decorative Salon painting of the period. The 1876 date places this in the period when Gervex was producing the academic paintings that combined technical precision with modern medical subjects.
Cultural Impact
The study for 'Autopsy at the Hotel-Dieu' is important in the history of French academic painting because it demonstrates the modern subject that Gervex brought to the academic tradition. The autopsy subject—modern medicine in the ancient Hotel-Dieu—allowed Gervex to combine the technical precision of the academic tradition with the modern subject of medical science, creating a type of academic painting that is simultaneously traditional in technique and modern in subject.
Why It Matters
Study for 'Autopsy at the Hotel-Dieu' is Gervex's modern academic painting: a preparatory study for a painting depicting an autopsy at the ancient Parisian hospital, combining academic technical precision with the modern subject of medical science. The 1876 study shows French academic painting engaging with the modern world of medicine.
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