Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Doctor Franklin Crowned by Liberty 1778 Jean Claude Richard de Saint-Non, French, 1727 - 1791. After a drawing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French, 1732 - 1806. Aquatint Currently not on view 1946-51-230 Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1946 |
LabelSaint-Non, a distinguished amateur artist, completed this print in April 1778, and sent thirteen impressions to Benjamin Franklin to demonstrate the recently developed printmaking process of aquatint. The object floating above the figure of Liberty is a liberty cap on a staff, a symbol of freedom derived from ancient Roman imagery that came to be identified with the American and French Revolutions. The portrait bust of Franklin on the globe resembles one made the previous year by Jean-Jacques Caffieri. |
