This por­trait shows the Ham­burg physi­cian Eugen Fraenkel. His fa­cial ex­pres­sion is se­ri­ous, the fore­head is marked by deep wrin­kles, his mous­tache is ac­cu­rate, and he gazes at the be­holder through a pair of pince-​nez. He wears a dis­tin­guished suit (black jacket, beige vest) with dark tie and white shirt and stand-​up col­lar. The pic­ture was painted by the Ham­burg artist Gretchen Wohlwill in 1928 – three years after Fraenkel’s death. A pho­to­graph of the de­ceased served as a model. The oil por­trait painted on can­vas mea­sures 65 x 75 cm and was signed by the artist in the lower right cor­ner.

The med­ical fac­ulty of Ham­burg Uni­ver­sity ac­quired the fin­ished paint­ing in 1928 and hung it in one of its build­ings. As ev­i­denced by a pre­served label on the back of the frame, the paint­ing was later re­moved from its place and, ac­cord­ing to the cur­rent state of re­search, de­liv­ered to a col­lec­tion point for “de­gen­er­ate art” on Oc­to­ber 12, 1939 (“De­posited by Ep­pen­dorf Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal”). Today, the paint­ing hangs in Ham­burg’s Mu­seum for the His­tory of Med­i­cine, which is housed in the for­mer pathol­ogy build­ing once planned for Fraenkel by city build­ing di­rec­tor Fritz Schu­macher.