Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

1777

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 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.