Edward Savage
Benjamin Franklin

Public Domain

ExpandFavorite

Images(2)

Engraver Edward Savage American, 1761–1817

Artistafter David Martin English, 1737–1798

CultureAmerican

Titles

Benjamin Franklin

Date1793

PlaceLondon, England

MediumMezzotint on wove paper

DimensionsPlate: 17 3/4 × 13 7/8 in. (45.1 × 35.3 cm)
Sheet: 20 7/8 × 16 in. (53 × 40.6 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg

Object numberB.63.160

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

PRINTS

Description

In 1793, Edward Savage published a print of George Washington and several months later issued this print of Franklin. As the two sitters are arranged to face each other, it is thought that the prints were conceived as a pair.

Related examples: Shadwell 1969, p. 45, no. 83; the Martin portrait painting is at the White House (White House 1975, pp. 54–55); Washington print at Winterthur (Fowble 1987, no. 201).

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.

Provenance[Kennedy Galleries, New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1963; given to MFAH.
Exhibition History"Radicals and Revolutionaries: America's Founding Fathers," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 10–May 28, 2018.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed below image: D. Martin pinxt.[t superscript with period [.] underneath] [left]; E. Savage sculpt.[t superscript with period [.] underneath] [right]; Benjamin Franklin L.L.D.---F.R.S. / London published Septr.[r superscript with period [.] underneath] 17. 1793, by E. Savage, No.[o superscript with period [.] underneath] 50, Hatton Garden [center]

[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.