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No commoner in the eighteenth century posed for as many portraits as Benjamin Franklin, a noted art historian once observed. Indeed, the numerous painted, sketched, and printed images that Benjamin Franklin posed for offer rich insights into the world of one person and a people during the pivotal era from the 1740s, when Franklin posed for his first formal portrait, through the 1780s, when the elder statesman sat for a variety of artists bent on capturing the thoughts and images of a rising people. Studying Franklin’s portraits gives us an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of the people of eighteenth-century Anglo-America. The ambitious printer and publisher shown in Robert Feke’s 1746 portrait gives way to the man of science in David Martin’s 1766 London painting. Franklin carefully selected his simple clothing and wise, philosophical air in the images that artists captured during the revolutionary era. Finally, we see Franklin after he returned to the United States of America as the founding father, the sage, the man of ideas. We are deeply grateful to the American Philosophical Society for their willingness to allow us to include their unparalleled collection of Franklin images for our website. Be sure to visit their databases to view the many images of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Sites of Interest |
