Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1984.02 |
Object Name |
Painting |
Title |
Portrait of Benjamin Franklin |
Artist |
Greuze, Jean Baptiste |
Date |
1777 |
Description |
Oval, half-length portrait with body turned slightly to his left, in front of a gray background. Subject has blonde, graying hair, brown eyes, and a rosy complexion. He wears his hair loose around his shoulders. The subject wears a green, fur-trimmed cloak and a white, satin waistcoat, neckcloth, and lace jabot. |
Label |
Eminent artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze painted this portrait was painted in 1777, shortly after Benjamin Franklin moved to Paris to become ambassador to France. Commissioned by Abbé Joseph Alphonse de Véri, a friend of Franklin and collector of Greuze's works, this portrait is one of only two known oil paintings Greuze made after his original pastel drawing. De Véri praised Greuze for "depicting there all the nobility of a free spirit, all the wisdom of an orderly mind and all of a statesman's sagacity." The portrait descended within the family for over 150 years before Lamont DuPont Copeland purchased it in 1962. |
Medium |
Oil on canvas |
Dimensions |
H-39 W-33.25 inches |
Dimension Details |
Framed; oval |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society. Gift at the bequest of Lamont duPont Copeland, 1983. |
Search Terms |
18th century eighteenth century painting Founding Father APS President |