Benjamin Franklin

Description This standing figure of Benjamin Franklin is holding a scroll and has a gilded base. The figure is a model of 1793. In the late 18th century Benjamin Franklin was a popular celebrity, especially in France. This resulted in a demand for his likeness that was met by a host of images in various materials and sizes - from costly marble to cheap prints. The Museum also has in its collection a version in plaster which was part of the original bequest from Henry Walters in 1931.

Exhibitions

• The French in America. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit. 1951.
• The Eighteenth Century Art of France and England. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montréal. 1950.
• Maryland Heritage: European Art at the Time of the Revolution. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1976.
• Maryland: First Catholic Colony. Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. 1990-1991.
• The Princess and the Patriot: Ekaterina Dashkova, Benjamin Franklin, and the Age of Enlightenment. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. 2006.

Provenance Dr. and Mrs. Henry Barton Jacobs, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Jacobs Sale, Baltimore, December 10, 1940, no. 366; Walters Art Museum, 1940, by purchase.

Credit Museum puchase, 1940