$30-Million Raised to Keep a Famous Painting in Philadelphia

At least $30-million has been raised from private sources by museum officials in Philadelphia who have now successfully staved off an attempt to move a painting from the city to museums in Washington and Little Rock, Ark., The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

The Annenberg Foundation donated $10-million, while the Pew Charitable Trusts provided $3-million.

The fund-raising effort began after Thomas Jefferson University announced it planned to sell a painting by Thomas Eakins called The Gross Clinic.

The university had agreed to sell the painting for $68-million to the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, and an art museum to be built in Bentonville, Ark.

That caused many people in Philadelphia to become angry that a masterpiece was leaving the city.

Government officials, arts leaders, and others decided to try raising enough money so they could prevent the sale to the institutions outside Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy for the Fine Arts will now share ownership of the painting. They plan to borrow money that is not covered by donations, which they are continuing to seek.