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Lot 300 PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF AMBASSADOR J. WILLIAM MIDDENDORF II
B. FRANKLIN OF PHILADELPHIA
Edward Fisher, 1762
Closed22 January 2021
Price Realised
USD 8,750
More Information
Specialist note
Edward FISHER (1730-1785), engraver, after Mason CHAMBERLIN (d. 1787), artist. B. Franklin of Philadelphia [L.L.D., F.R.S.]. [London]: Sold by M. Chamberlin in Stewart Street, Old Artillery Ground, Spittalfields [1762].
A fine impression of an excellent early image of the American scientist. Seated at a table, with a large wig, Franklin holds a quill in his right hand, and in his left, a closely written document. Behind him is a book case and electrical apparatus. The curtain is drawn aside to show a violent lightning storm striking and damaging a building, an allusion to Franklin's invention of the lightning rod as the result of famous experiments conducted in 1752. Franklin himself preferred this portrait over that of McArdell, a competitor. Sellers, Franklin in Portraiture, pp.220-221.
Mezzotint. 14 7/8 x 10 7/8 in (376 x 275mm). (Trimmed to within plate-mark, neatly laid down on acid-free paper, small losses at bottom corners infilled.) Matted and framed.
A fine impression of an excellent early image of the American scientist. Seated at a table, with a large wig, Franklin holds a quill in his right hand, and in his left, a closely written document. Behind him is a book case and electrical apparatus. The curtain is drawn aside to show a violent lightning storm striking and damaging a building, an allusion to Franklin's invention of the lightning rod as the result of famous experiments conducted in 1752. Franklin himself preferred this portrait over that of McArdell, a competitor. Sellers, Franklin in Portraiture, pp.220-221.
Mezzotint. 14 7/8 x 10 7/8 in (376 x 275mm). (Trimmed to within plate-mark, neatly laid down on acid-free paper, small losses at bottom corners infilled.) Matted and framed.