B. Franklin of Philadelphia. L. L. D. F. R. S.

• Price: $5,000.00
  

  SKU: 22915

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• ARTIST: Mason Chamberlin

• PUBLISHER: Sold by M. Chamberlin in Stewart Street, Old Artillery Ground, Spittalfields. Price 5s.

• MEDIUM: Mezzotint,

  DATE: 1763

• EDITION SIZE: Image size 10 7/8 x 14 7/8" ( 27.7 x 378 cm).

• DESCRIPTION: B. Franklin of Philadelphia, L.L.D. F.R.S. 1763 is an engraving by Edward Fisher after a portrait by Mason Chamberlin, presenting Benjamin Franklin as a scientist. In this striking composition, Franklin is depicted seated at his desk, looking up from his writing, while a violent storm rages outside. He gazes away from the viewer, his expression contemplative, as he observes the rods and bells he designed to capture lightning. The print highlights Franklin’s groundbreaking electrical experiments conducted between 1747 and 1753, including the use of an iron rod to attract lightning into his home and the ringing bells that signaled its charge. <br><br> The original portrait, painted in 1762, was one of Franklin’s personal favorites. By that time, he had been in London since 1757 as the Pennsylvania Assembly’s agent. The painting was first exhibited at the Society of Artists in London in 1763, and Franklin, pleased with the likeness, commissioned a copy for his son William, then Governor of New Jersey. Soon after, Edward Fisher was chosen to create an engraving based on the portrait. William Franklin ordered one hundred impressions of the print to sell commercially, while Benjamin Franklin himself distributed copies to friends and correspondents, remarking that it was “the only way in which I am now likely ever to visit.” <br><br> One of the earliest known copies was sent by Franklin to Mather Byles, a Boston minister and poet, who had played a key role in securing Franklin’s honorary degree from Harvard in 1753. The print stands as both a scientific and didactic work, illustrating Franklin’s experiments with electricity. The structures depicted outside the window are not buildings but models Franklin used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the lightning rod, similar to those preserved at Harvard University. Fisher’s engraving captures Franklin not as a statesman, but as the scientist and inventor whose discoveries shaped the modern understanding of electricity.

• ADDITIONAL INFO:

• CONDITION: Good condition with unusually wide margins.

• REFERENCE:

• CATEGORIES: 18th-19th Century Subjects , Portraits , Revolutionary War Figures