A RARE PLASTER BUST OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

A RARE PLASTER BUST OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

WORKSHOP OF JEAN-ANTOINE HOUDON (FRENCH 1741-1828)

with a light wash finish, signed and dated 'Houdon f.1778' to his right shoulder

42cm high

Catalogue Note

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a philosopher, inventor, scientist and statesman and resided in France during most of the American Revolution courting favour for the American cause of Independence. He became a celebrity upon his arrival to Paris and portraits of him were made by famous sculptors and painters of the day, including: Greuze, Caffieri and Houdon.

Jean-Antoine Houdon produced his first portrait bust of Franklin in terracotta in 1778 and two marbles were subsequently carved. Other plaster versions dated '1778' can be found in the Schlossmuseum, Gotha, the Musee Fabre, Montpellier and the American Society of Arts and Sciences, Boston. Four other untraced plaster busts were mentioned by William Temple Franklin in a letter of 1785, see Anne Poulet in Jean-Antoine Houdon, Sculptor of the Enlightenment, p.249.

For a comparable example see Sotheby's New York, 1st May 2020 lot 6.