Harvard Art Museums > 1938.37: Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) (Giovanni Battista Nini) , 1938.37,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 30, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/230655. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1938.37 People Giovanni Battista Nini, Italian (Urbino, Italy 1717 - 1786 Chaumont sur Loire, France) Title Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture, relief Date 1778-1779 Culture Italian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/230655 Physical Descriptions Medium Terracotta Technique Relief Dimensions 15.2 x 1.9 cm (6 x 3/4 in.) 473.6 g Inscriptions and Marks Signed: impressed on truncation: I B NINI F / 1778; 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] 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 1938.37 Division European and American Art Contact am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu Permissions THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS. The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. 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 Louise Todd Ambler, Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), no. 43; ill. p. 49 Richard Margolis, Benjamin Franklin in Terra Cotta, Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers (Ohio, 2015), pp. 36, 108-113 (Type 24) 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.110, 111, 154 Exhibition History Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/17/1975 - 09/22/1975 Eighteenth Century European Ceramics, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/02/2005 - 06/09/2008 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
