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Look at the long, loose hair falling to his shoulders and the plain collar, laid in with a few strokes of brown wash.
When Benjamin Franklin reached France in December 1776, sent to win French support for the American war of independence, he was already famous for his plain dress and his refusal to wear a wig. Fragonard drew him about 1778 in brown ink and wash, and the inscription at lower left gives his name. That same year Fragonard’s young sister-in-law, Marguerite Gérard, etched an allegorical portrait of Franklin after one of his drawings, the Met records.
Brush and brown ink and brown wash on ivory laid paper, laid down on ivory laid paper · 27.8 × 23.9 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Rococo
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Benjamin Franklin
- Artist
- Jean-Honoré Fragonard French, 1732-1806
- Date
- c. 1778
- Medium
- Brush and brown ink and brown wash on ivory laid paper, laid down on ivory laid paper
- Dimensions
- 27.8 × 23.9 cm (11 × 9 7/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. Charles Netcher as a memorial to Charles Netcher II
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.