I've spent the last week in the City of Philadelphia visiting the nation's first hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital. Founded by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Bond in 1751, most of the original building remains intact and has been incorporated into a new hospital campus that is part of the University of Pennsylvania health system.
In 1800, the accomplished American painter Benjamin West, now living in Britain, was requested to create a painting honoring the new hospital. He agreed and entitled his painting "Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple" It was completed in 1811, but because of its popularity, West was forced to sell his painting to Britain's National Gallery for the largest some ever paid for a modern painting.
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Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple, 1811 (Version 1)
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Still wanting to forfill his original commitment to Pennsylvania Hospital, West recreated the painting with improvements. The most prominent change is the addition of a "demoniac" in honor of the new hospital's treatment of the mentally ill. The new painting was delivered to the hospital in 1817 and is currently prominently displayed in a modern wing connecting the original and new hospital buildings.
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Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple, 1817 (Version 2)
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See if you can find the differences between the two paintings.
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