Benjamin Franklin - Item #202
26 Inches High x 13.5 Inches Wide x 12 Inches Deep
Counting on Franklin's popularity to sell the pieces, Houdon created two busts of Franklin, beginning with this one in 1778. At the time, Franklin was the American minister to the court of Louis XVI, a position he would hold until 1785. This life-size portrait is regarded as the best depiction of Franklin, a stunning fact considering that he may never have sat for Houdon. It was also the first bust Houdon created in what would be a series of American portraits. The bust, in many variations, was widely reproduced. Two original marble copies with slight differences are located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania.
Artist: Jean-Antoine Houdon
Museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY and The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA
Time Period: Modern- Neoclassical, 1778
1911 Catalog ID # - 5446A
Sources:
"Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/208578.
"Bust of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)." Philadelphia Museum of Art, https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/90227.html.
Hirayama, Hina. "Busts of Franklin and Lafayette by Jean-Antoine Houdon." Acquired Tastes: 200 Years of Collecting for the Boston Athenæum, edited by Stanley Ellis Cushing and David B. Dearinger, The Boston Athenæum, 2006, pp. 261-265. Boston Athenæum, https://www.bostonathenaeum.org/about/publications/selections-acquired-tastes/busts-franklin-and-lafayette-jean-antoine-houdon.
Original: $1,150.00
-65%$1,150.00
$402.50Product Information
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Description
26 Inches High x 13.5 Inches Wide x 12 Inches Deep
Counting on Franklin's popularity to sell the pieces, Houdon created two busts of Franklin, beginning with this one in 1778. At the time, Franklin was the American minister to the court of Louis XVI, a position he would hold until 1785. This life-size portrait is regarded as the best depiction of Franklin, a stunning fact considering that he may never have sat for Houdon. It was also the first bust Houdon created in what would be a series of American portraits. The bust, in many variations, was widely reproduced. Two original marble copies with slight differences are located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania.
Artist: Jean-Antoine Houdon
Museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY and The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA
Time Period: Modern- Neoclassical, 1778
1911 Catalog ID # - 5446A
Sources:
"Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/208578.
"Bust of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)." Philadelphia Museum of Art, https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/90227.html.
Hirayama, Hina. "Busts of Franklin and Lafayette by Jean-Antoine Houdon." Acquired Tastes: 200 Years of Collecting for the Boston Athenæum, edited by Stanley Ellis Cushing and David B. Dearinger, The Boston Athenæum, 2006, pp. 261-265. Boston Athenæum, https://www.bostonathenaeum.org/about/publications/selections-acquired-tastes/busts-franklin-and-lafayette-jean-antoine-houdon.
