Bus
Medium
Waxed plaster
Dimensions
H. 5 in. (12.7 cm)
Classification
Bust
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William H. Huntington, 1883
Accession Number
83.2.192
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, *Bus* is a delicate waxed plaster bust by French sculptor Pierre Joseph Chard, created in 1851. Standing 5 inches (12.7 cm) tall, this intimate portrait captures Benjamin Franklin, polymath Founding Father, statesman, and inventor whose likeness has long symbolized American ingenuity and Enlightenment ideals. Donated in 1883 by William. Huntington, it reflects the 19th-century fascination with heroic American figures, even rendered by a European artist. Chardigny's choice of waxed plaster—a technique involving a plaster core coated wi...
About the Artist
Pierre Joseph Chardigny · 1794–1866
1794–1866