François Denis Née
On l'a vu désarmer les Tirans et les Dieux (Tyrants and Gods are known to have yielded to him)

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Engraver François Denis NéeFrench, 1732–1817

Artistafter Louis de CarmontelleFrench, 1717–1806

Publisher François Denis NéeFrench, 1732–1817

CultureFrench

Titles

On l'a vu désarmer les Tirans et les Dieux (Tyrants and Gods are known to have yielded to him)
On l'a vu désarmer les Tirans et les Dieux

Datec. 1780–1781

Printed inParis, France

MediumEngraving with etching on laid paper

DimensionsPlate: 14 1/4 × 8 5/8 in. (36.2 × 21.9 cm)
Sheet: 14 13/16 × 9 in. (37.6 × 22.8 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by Bobbie Nau

Object numberB.2016.9

Not on view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

PRINTS

DescriptionDepicting Benjamin Franklin seated in profile, this print is one of many that appeared after Franklin arrived in France in 1776 as envoy of the United States, seeking French assistance in the Revolutionary cause. The title is a paraphrase in French of the famous quote in Latin by French statesman Anne Robert Jacques Turgot: “Eripuit coelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis.” In English: “He seized lightning from the heavens and the scepter from tyrants.”
Provenance[William Reese Company, New Haven, Connecticut, as of 2016]; purchased by MFAH, 2016.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Printed LL below edge of plate: L. C. de Carmontelle, Del.
Printed LC: On l'a vu désarmer les Tirans et les Dieux \ AParis chez Née rue des
Francs-Bourgeois, Porte St. Michel \ A.P.D.R.
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below the image, on the left, inscribed in printed ink: L.C.
Carmontelle, Del.
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below the image, on the right: Née sculp.
Recto: Inscribed in cursive script in printed ink, below the image, center: On l'a vu Desarmer
les Tirans et les Dieux
[The French rendering of Turgot's Latin “Eripuit coelo fulmen sceptrumque tirannis”; in English,
"He seized lightning from the heavens and the scepter from tyrants."]
Recto: Inscribed in cursive script in printed ink, below the image, lower center: A Paris chez
Née rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Porte St. Michel/ A.P.D.R.

Watermark: none.
Verso: [inaccessible]

Catalogue raisonnéFirmon-Didot 1875–77 1872; LeB.III.93.6

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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