Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1975.02 |
Object Name |
Painting |
Title |
Portrait of Francis Xavier Dercum |
Artist |
Rittenberg, Henry R. |
Date |
1927-31 |
Description |
Three-quarter length-view of seated figure with a rosy complexion, bald head with gray hair on the sides, and gray handlebar moustache, facing towards his left, and holding a book in his right hand. Figure wears black and hunter green academic robes with a hunter green hood of Doctor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. |
Label |
Francis Xavier Dercum was a Philadelphia-born neurologist. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1877, he focused on nervous diseases and, in 1884, was one of the first researchers to use a form of motion pictures to study patients with nervous system disorders. He practiced and taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical College, and many other institutions in the area. Dercum served as President of the APS from 1927 to 1931, when he died while presiding over an APS meeting, sitting in Benjamin Franklin’s library chair (F12). In this portrait by well-known painter and teacher Henry Rittenberg, Dercum is depicted in his Doctor of Medicine robes from the University of Pennsylvania. According to family tradition, all parts of the painting except the eyes were completed before Dercum’s death in 1931. Dercum’s family told the artist that Dercum's granddaughter had eyes the exact same color, and thus Rittenberg used her eyes as the model for the eye color in this portrait. |
Medium |
Oil on canvas |
Dimensions |
H-54.5 W-44.5 inches |
Dimension Details |
Framed |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society. Gift of Mrs. Samuel W. Mifflin and Mrs. Malcolm Lloyd, 1975. |
Search Terms |
20th century twentieth century painting scientist physician APS President |