Benjamin Franklin (Primary Title)

Hiram Powers, American, 1805 - 1873 (Artist)

modeled 1848–51, carved 1851–66
American
marble
United States
Overall: 24 1/2 × 15 3/8 × 12 7/8 in. (62.23 × 39.05 × 32.7 cm)
19.1.50

Although best known as a sculptor of ideal figures, Powers also produced portraits. To capture the features of the venerable Benjamin Franklin, he relied on earlier portrait engravings as well as a cast of a 1778 bust made from life by French sculptor Jean-Antoinne Houdon. Powers pictures the aging Revolutionary War statesman with his face tilted downward. The lift of an eyebrow and slight smile convey something of the subject's legendary intelligence and humor.

Powers found eager patrons for his images of Franklin in both the public and private spheres. Among them was a Virginia-born Thomas Barbour Bryan, a prominent Chicago attorney who is said to have selected this bust directly from Power's studio during a trip to Italy. Half a century later, Bryan's son-in-law John Barton Payne, donated the sculpture to the Commonwealth along with several other artworks, a gift that formed the original collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

intaglio on verso: "H. POWERS sculp."
Gift of John Barton Payne
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

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