Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

Name/Title

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

Entry/Object ID

GHS 338

Description

Portrait of man seated at desk. Maroon with painted gold oval frame inside. Figure has white wig, small oval eyeglasses and is reading documents. Brown jacket with ruffled sleeve cuffs. One hand is raised with chin resting on thumb. Books on table off to the right. Dark greenish-brown ground. Frame painted black with white lettering. On frame in paint: 'PORTRAIT "BENJAMIN FRANKLIN"- PAINTED BY DAVID RENT ETTER, ABOUT 1847- FROM FRANKLIN ENGINE HOUSE GERMANTOWN'

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil on wood

Made/Created

Artist

Etter, David Rent

Place

* Untyped Place

USA, Philadelphia, probably Germantown

Notes

Author: Etter, David Rent

Dimensions

Height

31-3/4 in

Width

23 in

Depth

1-1/4 in

Relationships

Related Publications

Publication

Family File Crier Index- 5 references Beehive Index- 23 references GHS Archives: Documents; Box A, Folder 4 The PA Gazette 9/25-10/2, 1779 Photo files: Box 2, Env. 8 Hocker, E. Germantown 1683-1933 p. 92, 1933 McMaster, John B. Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters, 1887 Biographies of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence ed. 2, 1828 v. III p. 31-136 Walker, Lewis B. Extracts from Chief Justice Wm. Allen's Letter Book, 1897. p. 82-131 Garrity, John A. Ed. Encyclopedia of American Biography 1947, p. 379-380 Watson, John F. Watson's Annals of Phila & PA 1927 see index v. I-III See David Rent Etter in: Fielding, Mantle Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors, & Engravers, 1947 p. 113 Donor references: Germantown Crier 37(2):44; 39(1):5 Beehive VIII (1):2; XII(6):20; XXVI(2):13 Publications of the GHS, 1915 v.I p.86, 108, 202

Provenance

Notes

GHS True Accession Book, "Painting of Benjamin Franklin on wood. Came from the old Franklin Engine Co. House" Donated 11/28/1913 by Dr. Herman Burgin