The Washington Post has a much deeper account than the article in the D-G this morning on a Thomas Eakins’ masterpiece that Alice Walton may land for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville (in conjunction with the Natonal Gallery of Art), if Philadelphia art lovers can’t match the $68 million purchase offer to keep it in town. Here’s the Smithsonian photo of “The Gross Clinic,” a depiction of an early surgery now on display at a Philadelphia med school.
For the record: It’s not clear where ownership will lie if the acquisition goes forward. But whatever happens, even if ownership is in Arkansas, no use tax will be owed on the purchase — though others, including all art museums, that make similar purchases in Arkansas would owe the use tax — thanks to the secret-beneficiary legislation passed for Walton acquistions by the representative from Bentonville.