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Lot Essay
Edward FISHER (1730-1785), engraver, after Mason CHAMBERLIN (d. 1787), artist. B. Franklin of Philadelphia [L.L.D., F.R.S.]. [London]: Sold by M. Chamberlin in Stewart Street, Old Artillery Ground, Spittalfields [1762].
A fine impression of an excellent early image of the American scientist. Seated at a table, with a large wig, Franklin holds a quill in his right hand, and in his left, a closely written document. Behind him is a book case and electrical apparatus. The curtain is drawn aside to show a violent lightning storm striking and damaging a building, an allusion to Franklin's invention of the lightning rod as the result of famous experiments conducted in 1752. Franklin himself preferred this portrait over that of McArdell, a competitor. Sellers, Franklin in Portraiture, pp.220-221.
Mezzotint. 14 7/8 x 10 7/8 in (376 x 275mm). (Trimmed to within plate-mark, neatly laid down on acid-free paper, small losses at bottom corners infilled.) Matted and framed.
A fine impression of an excellent early image of the American scientist. Seated at a table, with a large wig, Franklin holds a quill in his right hand, and in his left, a closely written document. Behind him is a book case and electrical apparatus. The curtain is drawn aside to show a violent lightning storm striking and damaging a building, an allusion to Franklin's invention of the lightning rod as the result of famous experiments conducted in 1752. Franklin himself preferred this portrait over that of McArdell, a competitor. Sellers, Franklin in Portraiture, pp.220-221.
Mezzotint. 14 7/8 x 10 7/8 in (376 x 275mm). (Trimmed to within plate-mark, neatly laid down on acid-free paper, small losses at bottom corners infilled.) Matted and framed.