Artist: Jean-Jacques Caffieri(1725-1792)
Medium: Marble
MSA SC 4680-20-0029

This bust was made in Paris while Franklin served as America's first diplomat and ambassador to France between 1776 and 1785; Thomas Jefferson was his successor. Caffieri made a terracotta version of this bust which was exhibited at the Paris, Salon de 1777. Between 1778 and 1785, Franklin ordered eight plaster versions for friends and family. This is the only marble example. This portrait bust of Franklin was owned by Robert Gilmor, Jr. (1774-1848) of Baltimore and was included in his estate sale in 1849. Charles J.M. Eaton, a trustee of the Peabody Institute, purchased it and bequeathed it to the Peabody upon his death in 1893. The state acquired the Peabody Art Collection in 1996.