Writing with a broad brush

Re “Free ‘The Gross Clinic,’ ” Opinion, Dec. 16

I find incomprehensible Henry Adams’ assertion that this celebrated painting by Thomas Eakins “has been almost inaccessible for more than a century.” When I lived in Philadelphia in the late ‘60s, the painting hung openly in the entranceway of old Jefferson Medical College; tourists and students could view it for free and at their leisure. In fact, so accessible to public viewing was this masterpiece that medical students had carved their initials and other marks into it.

When I revisited the city in 1997 and wished to see the painting once again, I was told that owing to such student vandalism, it had finally been moved to a pavilion across the street. Crossing the street, I was quickly and courteously escorted into this new viewing room and allowed to gawk at the painting for as long as I wanted. Without denying what may have been true in Adams’ personal case, there’s no denying that his Op-Ed article suffers from considerable distortion of the historical record.

STANLEY H. NEMETH

Garden Grove