Portrait of Professor Benjamin H. Rand [SEP] creator
Portrait of Professor Benjamin H. Rand
Portrait of Professor Benjamin H. Rand is an 1874 painting by Thomas Eakins. It is oil on canvas and depicts Benjamin H. Rand, a doctor at Jefferson Medical College who taught Eakins anatomy. In the painting, Rand is reading a book while petting a cat.
The portrait was the first Eakins made of someone outside his family. It is a prelude to what he considered his most important painting, "The Gross Clinic" (1875). Rand donated it to Jefferson Medical College
later became the chair of chemistry at the Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia Medical College until its closure in 1861, and served as Dean of Jefferson Medical College from 1864 to May 1877. He retired at age 50 due to health reasons. 
In April 2007, the portrait of Rand was purchased by Alice L. Walton for an estimated US$20 million and will be housed at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
External links.
- Portrait of Professor Benjamin H. Rand via the Eakins Gallery