ANATOMY LESSON (original ink, a circa 1915 reworking after Rembrandt)
Pair of Drawings (recto & verso) by Francis Moylan Fitts (1892-1958)
Francis Moylan Fitts, Richmond, Virginia native & 1911 graduate of Hampden-Sidney College, probably did these ink drawings while at medical school around the time of WW I. The first is inspired by Rembrandt's 1632 Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp; costumes are updated to Fitts' own time. (Some if not all of the faces appear to be contemporary portraits)
Descended from a Virginia family, Francis Moylen Fitts (later Colonel Fitts) served in Europe during the first World War, and again in the Medical Department of the army during World War II. He was appointed U.S. Assistant Surgeon General in 1941, and later Director of Military Training Army Service Forces.
After a long international career, he and his wife Jeannette, from Lyons France, settled in Georgetown DC, where, surrounded by the antiques they had collected together around the world, they continued their long friendship with Dwight & Mamie Eisenhower, and where Dr. Fitts continued painting and drawing for pleasure and for friends. He seems never to have publicly exhibited his art.
(height 14 ½” X 20 1/2”)
Recto:
ANATOMY LESSON (freely adapted from Rembrandt)
INK & CHARCOAL
Beneath the mat, additional head studies of the bearded spectacled professor, possibly the portrait of a favorite instructor.
Verso :
Studies of an 18th century gentleman
INK
# 1010 ma Framed with double glass, acid-free archival matting ....................................................................................................................................................................... $ 375.
An original certificate of provenance reads :
Number 403 Surgeon
AMBULANCE of the AMERICAN HOSPITAL OF PARIS
...in recognition of the services rendered by
Dr. Francis Moylan Fitts
to the American Ambulance from JULY 15th 1916
to DECEMBER 9th 1916
who thereby aided the American people in the relief of the heroic sufferers of the European war.
Signed by Chairman, Ambulance Committee & Surgeon in Chief
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