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Benjamin Franklin
ca. 1782
Joseph Wright
France: Paris
Oil on canvas
Frame: 43"h x 36-1/4"w x 4"d; Stretcher: 31-5/8"h x 25-1/8"w x 1"d
Special Acquisitions Fund
92.025

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin; half-length portrait of seated Benjamin Franklin facing straight ahead; wearing white neck stock and brown waistcoat and jacket; black background. No signature or date on piece.


This is one of at least six portraits of Franklin that American artist Joseph Wright painted in 1782. Commissioned by British diplomat Richard Oswald, Wright made the paintings when Oswald and Franklin met in Paris to negotiate peace at the end of the American Revolution. Franklin insisted that the artist model the painting after a portrait by a French artist, Joseph Duplessis (1725–1802), rather than paint from life. Wright deviated from this work and portrayed him in a plain red coat rather than a fur-trimmed one.