Giovanni Battista Nini
Portrait Medallion of Benjamin Franklin

MakerItalian, 1717–1786, active France
CultureItalian
Titles
  • Portrait Medallion of Benjamin Franklin
Date1777
Probable placeChaumont-sur-Loire, France
MediumTerracotta
Dimensions4 5/8 in. diameter (11.7 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.58.122
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Federal Parlor
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

In contrast to the work of most medalists, all of Giovanni Battista Nini’s medallions were produced in terracotta cast from molds taken from models carved directly in wax. Before the clay was baked and while it was still soft, however, Nini would add final details. Since the wax model was retained, the artist could produce a large number of molds and finished medallions, which were all of high quality, avoiding the problems encountered in bronze casting. Nini was a prolific artist interested solely in the portrait, of which he appears to have modelled around one hundred, none of which bears a reverse. All the pieces are large. Working solely in wax and terracotta, Nini was able to convey in each piece a sense of the direct contact of the artist’s hand, an immediacy that contributed, and yet was subordinate, to the accurate rendering of a wide range of textures and materials and the depiction of the minutest details of body and dress. Although fixed in the traditional profile pose of the medal, the portraits show great variety and sensitivity.

Nini was apparently an intriguing and original character, possessing intelligence, taste and great talent, and this enabled him to number among his friends some of the most important people of the time, including Benjamin Franklin, portraits of whom are among Nini’s best-known and most important works.


Provenance[Louis Lyons, New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, October 1, 1958; given to MFAH, by 1966.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Molded on front: B. FRANKLIN / AMERICAIN / 1777

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi
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The Skeletons
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Etching with engraving, drypoint, and burnishing on cream laid paper, state II/V
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The Abduction of the Sabine Women
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no date
Watercolor over pencil on laid paper
78.199
The Wild Boar
Giovanni Battista Foggini
c. 1700
Bronze
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Three Soldiers and a Boy
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
c. 1740
Etching, state I/I
94.9
Tempio di Giano (Temple of Janus)
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
c. 1748
Etching on laid paper, state I/I
85.442