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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1938.36
People
Giovanni Battista Nini, Italian (Urbino, Italy 1717 - 1786 Chaumont sur Loire, France)
Title
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
relief, sculpture
Date
1779
Culture
Italian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/230674

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Relief
Dimensions
13 x 1.9 cm (5 1/8 x 3/4 in.)
327.5 g
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: impressed on truncation: I B NINI F; below, NINI F. 1779
  • inscription: around image, cast, Latin: · ERIPUIT · COELO · FULMEN · SCEPTRUMQUE · TIRANNIS · [=he seized lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants]
  • inscription: verso, white chalk, handwritten: [16]?

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville L. Winthrop, New York, NY; his gift to the Fogg Art Museum, 1938.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Grenville L. Winthrop, Class of 1886
Accession Year
1938
Object Number
1938.36
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Franklin in left profile, bare-headed. On exergue is stamped a crowned crest with hand and lightning bolt. The device of the hand and lightning bolt separates the letters of the inscription. Perforated at upper margin for hanging wire.

Publication History

  • Richard Margolis, Benjamin Franklin in Terra Cotta, Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers (Ohio, 2015), pp. 38 (Plate 26), 40 (Type 26), 116 (Type 26), ill. p. 117.
  • Richard Margolis, Benjamin Franklin in Terra Cotta: Portrait Medallions by Jean-Baptiste Nini at the Chateau of Chaumont, Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers (Gahanna, Ohio, 2015), pp. 116, 117, repr. p. 117 fig.26

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu