''Samuel Gross'' (1897) is a bronze statue by sculptor

Alexander Stirling Calder Alexander Stirling Calder (January 11, 1870 – January 7, 1945) was an American sculpture, sculptor and teacher. He was the son of sculptor Alexander Milne Calder and the father of sculptor Alexander Calder, Alexander (Sandy) Calder. His best-kn ...

that was created as a monument to the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

surgeon Dr. Samuel D. Gross (1805–1884). It was commissioned for and originally installed at the

Army Medical School The Army Medical School (AMS) was founded by U.S. Army Brigadier General George Miller Sternberg. According to some, it was the world's first school of public health and preventive medicine. (The other institution vying for this distinction is ...

in Washington, D.C., on what is now the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...

. In April 1970, it was relocated to the campus of Jefferson Medical College (now

Thomas Jefferson University Thomas Jefferson University is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. ...

) in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. It currently stands on the Sidney and Ethal Lubert Plaza, within the square bordered by 10th, Walnut, 11th and Locust Streets.

History

Dr. Gross was considered the greatest American surgeon of his time.He trained more than a generation of surgeons at Jefferson Medical College, and was the author of ''A Manual of Military Surgery'' (1861), the military field surgery manual used by the Union Army during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

(and subsequently used by the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

). He later served as president of the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 ...

and was a founder and the first president of the

American Surgical Association The American Surgical Association is the oldest surgical organization in the United States. History It was founded in 1880. Their publication, ''Annals of Surgery'', was started in 1885. A collection of the association's papers are held at the Na ...

Creation of the statue

The formal proposal for a statue of Dr. Gross originated at the September 24, 1891 business meeting of the ASA.Mark M. Ravitch, ''A Century of Surgery: The History of the American Surgical Association, Volume 2'' (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1981). By the end of 1892, more than $6,000 had been raised from members of the ASA and the Jefferson Medical College Alumni Association. Members of the AMA also were solicited for contributions:

Mr. Geo. Keil of Philadelphia is in Chicago this week, representing the S. D. Gross Monument Fund, and will call on the leading members of the profession in this city. Twelve thousand dollars is the minimum amount required, and the raising of the amount should not be doubtful. Gentlemen desiring to anticipate Mr. Keil's visit may leave contributions for him at the JOURNAL office, if more convenient.

Calder won the commission for the statue through an 1894 national design competition. He based his likeness of Dr. Gross on photographs that his former teacher,

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American Realism (visual arts), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artist ...

, had taken in preparation for the 1876 painting, ''

The Gross Clinic ''The Gross Clinic'' or ''The Clinic of Dr. Gross'' is an 1875 painting by American artist Thomas Eakins. It is oil on canvas and measures by . The painting depicts Dr. Samuel D. Gross, a seventy-year-old professor dressed in a black frock coat ...

''. Other sculptors in the design competition included

Charles Grafly Charles Allan Grafly, Jr. (December 3, 1862 – May 5, 1929) was an American sculptor, and teacher. Instructor of Sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for 37 years, his students included Paul Manship, Albin Polasek, and Walker H ...

and Samuel Murray, fellow former students of Eakins, with whom Eakins also shared copies of the negatives. Calder completed his larger-than-life-size plaster statue in Philadelphia, and it was shipped to Paris to be cast in bronze at the Jaboeuf & Bezout

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

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appropriated funds for the statue's pink granite base—three square steps and pedestal, in height—and the completed bronze was shipped to Washington, D.C. The monument was installed at the northeast corner of 9th Street and Independence Avenue, between the

and the

Smithsonian Institution Building The Smithsonian Institution Building, more commonly known as the Smithsonian Castle or simply The Castle, is a building on the National Mall housing the Smithsonian Institution's administrative offices and information center. Built as the first ...

.Dr. Samuel Gross Statue
from National Endowment for the Humanities. The monument's May 6, 1897 dedication was timed to coincide with the Washington, D.C. convention of the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons. President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

spoke at the ceremony, as did Surgeon General of the U.S. Army George M. Sternberg, and

William Williams Keen William Williams Keen Jr. (January 19, 1837June 7, 1932) was an American physician and the first brain surgeon in the United States. During his lifetime, Keen worked with six American presidents. Early life and education Keen was born in Phila ...

, Dr. Gross's former student and successor as Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, and America's first brain surgeon. Dr. Gross's granddaughter and great-grandson unveiled the statue.

Relocation

In preparation for excavation of the 9th Street Tunnel under the National Mall, the monument was removed and placed in storage in the late 1960s. The Army Medical Museum and Library (formerly the Army Medical School Building) was demolished in 1969, and the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

(completed 1974) was built on its site. In April 1970, the statue and its base were relocated to the campus of Jefferson Medical College, where Dr. Gross had gone to medical school and been Professor of Surgery for 28 years.Samuel D. Gross
from Thomas Jefferson University.

Alexander Stirling Calder's statue of Samuel D. Gross, which Jefferson retrieved from the warehouses of the Federal Government in Washington, where it had been moved from the Mall during construction of an expressway underpass, was placed to the rear of the Scott Building some months ago. The real question is why Jefferson placed it overlooking the parking lot rather than on the Walnut Street front, as the architects suggested. One assumes that it is to relate eventually to an open area in the center of the block which would result if new construction proceeds along Eleventh and Locust Streets and parking is placed underground.Edward A. Teitelman, M.D., "Scott Library and Administration Building," ''Jefferson Medical College Alumni Bulletin'', vol. 20, no. 3 (Spring 1971), p.

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Inscriptions

(Sculpture, Lower proper left side):
::JABOEUF & BEZOUT FONDEURS A PARIS Founder's mark appears (Sculpture, Lower proper right side):
::CALDER (Granite base, front):

References

External links