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Gallery Text

Painted in France, this portrait projects the unpretentious image that Benjamin Franklin cultivated during his tenure as an American diplomat. Duplessis captures the charming manner, thick belly, modest style of dress, and loose, unpowdered hair that helped elevate Franklin into something of a celebrity in refined Parisian circles.

Duplessis’s painting was one of three portraits of Franklin exhibited to acclaim at the Salon of 1779. After less than three years in France, the American ambassador had been portrayed in prints, paintings, busts, on porcelain, and in medallions that traveled across Europe and the Atlantic. The sudden ubiquity of Franklin’s likeness led him to quip that his face was “as well known as that of the moon.”

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.235
People
Joseph Siffred Duplessis, French (Carpentras, France 1725 - 1802 Versailles, France)
Title
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1778
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/229073

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
71.1 x 57.2 cm (28 x 22 1/2 in.)
framed: 86.5 x 73 cm (34 1/16 x 28 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop to the Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.235
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Washington, Lafayette, Franklin: Portraits, Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Memorabilia, for the Most Part from the Collections of the University, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1944), p. 27, cat. 53
  • Louise Todd Ambler, Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), pp. 83, 122-123, no. 44, ill. p. 83
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), pp. 106, 220, cat. 254, ill.
  • Edwin S. Gaustad, "Disciples of Reason", Christian History (Worcester, PA, May 1, 1996), vol. 15, issue 2, p. 28, ill.
  • Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard, W. Labaree, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT, and London, 2003), detail on cover; ill. on back cover
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. and Melissa Renn, American Paintings at Harvard, Volume One: Paintings, Watercolors, and Pastels by Artists Born before 1826, Yale University Press (U.S.) and Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge and New Haven, 2014), p. 492

Exhibition History

  • Washington Lafayette Franklin, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/22/1944 - 05/28/1944
  • Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/17/1975 - 09/22/1975
  • For Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/16/2004
  • 32Q: 2240 18th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 10/06/2016

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu