Benjamin Franklin - né a Boston, le 17 Janvier 1706 / dessiné par Desrais ; gravé par la Cite. Montaland.

Share

Printed in Paris by the dealer Basset, whose shop stood on the rue Jacques, this portrait gives Franklin's birth as Boston, 17 January 1706, and describes him as a printer and founder of the United States of North America, who died in Philadelphia in 1790. The draftsman Desrais made the design, and the engraver Montaland, identified as "Cité," rendered it in stipple, a dotted technique that was fashionable in the 1790s. Franklin had lived in France as the American envoy during the 1770s and 1780s, and his face became one of the most reproduced images in Paris, so prints like this one show how French audiences came to know the American Revolution through its leaders.

More from the Presidents collection

Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.