Art Image Details
Benjamin Franklin
| Title: | Benjamin Franklin |
|---|---|
| Artist: | Martin, David |
| Date of Work: | 1767 |
| Medium/Support: | oil on canvas on panel |
| Measurements: | 50 1/16 x 39 15/16 in (127.2 x 101.4 cm) |
| Inscribed: | No |
| Acquisition Information: | Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg |
| Acquisition Number: | 962.187.1 |
| Credit Line: | The White House Historical Association (White House Collection) |
| Scholar's Notes: |
"[T]he portrait [of Benjamin Franklin] was commissioned by Robert Alexander, of the firm of William Alexander & Sons, Edinburgh. . . . The impressive beribboned document held by Franklin in the portrait is not a treaty or an Act of Parliament, but one of Alexander's deeds! The other books and pamphlets suggest the learned evidence brought in support of a wise man's decision. . . . [T]he bust of Isaac Newton, whose gaze is directed toward Franklin, invokes the greatest English voice of Reason. . . . "[T]he portrait nonetheless sits squarely in the broader tradition of Enlightenment . . . . The pressure of the thumb against the chin . . . expresses the pressure of concentrated thought (the painting has sometimes been called the 'thumb portrait'), and the refracted light of Franklin's spectacles on his cheek furthers the effect." |
| Source of Scholar's Notes: | Kloss, William, et al. Art in the White House: A Nation's Pride. Washington, D.C.: The White House Historical Association, 2008. |
| Page Number(s) in Source: | 57 |
| People: | Franklin, Benjamin |
| Categories: | All Works of Art/ Artist's Nationality/ British |
| Type: | portraits |
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