id:			119744
accession number:	1940.578
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1940.578
updated:		2023-08-23 20:00:19.229000

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin, 1777. Giovanni Battista Nini (Italian, 1717–1786). Terracotta; diameter: 11.4 cm (4 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of James Parmelee 1940.578

title:				Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1777
creation date earliest:		1777
creation date latest:		1777
current location:		
creditline:			Bequest of James Parmelee
copyright:			

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culture:	France, 18th century
technique:	terracotta
department:	European Painting and Sculpture
collection:	Sculpture
type:		Sculpture
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Giovanni Battista Nini (Italian, 1717–1786)  - artist

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measurements: Diameter: 11.4 cm (4 1/2 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

	inscription:	inscribed along the circumference: B. FRANKLIN. AMERICAIN; inscribed below:  NINI F 1777 [with coat-of-arms]. 
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		The European Vision of America
	opening date:   1976-05-05T04:00:00
	<i>The European Vision of America</i>. National Gallery of Art (December 7, 1975-February 15, 1976); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 5-August 8, 1976); Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, France (September 17, 1976-January 3, 1977).

	title:		Rococo, Revolution, Restoration
	opening date:   1989-07-11T04:00:00
	<i>Rococo, Revolution, Restoration</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-September 24, 1989).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	James Parmelee (Washington, DC), upon his death, held in trust by the estate.
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Estate of James Parmelee, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1940.
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:
Scholars debate whether Nini met Benjamin Franklin personally or based the nine versions of his portrait on drawings by artist Thomas Walpole (British, 1755-1840). In this particular cast, Nini presents Franklin with a fur hat, which may be an allusion to French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, suggesting a comparison between the inventor and the philosopher and their roles in revolutionary politics on both sides of the Atlantic. Nini copied Franklin's fur hat from a portrait of Rousseau by Allan Ramsay (Scottish, 1713-1784). The small crest below Franklin's left shoulder shows a bolt of lightning striking an iron bar held by a hand, a reference to Franklin's discovery of the lightning rod and electricity.

wall description:

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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Honour, Hugh. The European Vision of America: A Special Exhibition to Honor the Bicentennial of the United States, Organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art with the Collaboration of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Réunion Des Musées Nationaux, Paris. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975.
	page number: 	cat. #204
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1940.578/1940.578_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1940.578/1940.578_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1940.578/1940.578_full.tif