ATTRIBUTED TO FRANCISCO BIENAIME, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

According to the Strong Museum's catalogue record for the present bust of Franklin and the following bust of Washington, the two works accompanied a gift of two marble paperweights from the Carrara sculptor, Francisco Bienaimé, to Mrs. Elizabeth Tinker Sibley, wife of Hiram Sibley, and her daughter Emily. It is probable that Mrs. Sibley commissioned the busts from Bienaimé, and that the gift of the paperweights was simply in appreciation of her patronage.

There is little biographical information on Francisco Bienaimé, who may have been either a brother or son of the better known Carrara sculptor, Luigi Bienaimé (1795-1878).