Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Medium
Etching and engraving; second state of two
Dimensions
Sheet: 18 3/16 × 13 1/2 in. (46.2 × 34.3 cm) Plate: 14 5/16 × 10 1/16 in. (36.4 × 25.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William H. Huntington, 1883
Accession Number
83.2.227
Tags
Art Historical Context
This 1779 etching and engraving captures Benjamin Franklin during his influential years in France, where he served as a diplomat seeking support for American independence. Created as a collaborative print by Anne Rosalie Bocquet Filleul and engraver Louis Jacques Cathelin, the work belongs to the second state of two impressions, reflecting the careful refinement typical of 18th-century reproductive prints. Such techniques combined the fluid lines of etching with the precise detail of engraving, allowing artists to produce multiple high-quality images that helped spread Franklin’s likeness acro...
About the Artist
Anne Rosalie Bocquet Filleul|Louis Jacques Cathelin (French|French) · 1752 |1739 –1794 |1804
French, Paris 1752–1794 Passy|French, Paris, 1739–1804