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    Museum collections / Art Institute of Chicago
    Benjamin Franklin
    Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Benjamin Franklin, c. 1778. The Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain (CC0).

    Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago

    AT-00004298

    Benjamin Franklin

    by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

    View at the Art Institute of Chicago

    Inscriptions

    Inscribed lower left: "B. Franklin"

    Provenance

    Albert Meyer, Paris, by 1932 [according to London 1932]. Sold by Jacques Seligmann and Company, New York, to Mrs. Charles Netcher, April 29, 1933 [invoice]; given to the Art Institute, 1933

    Exhibition history

    London, Royal Academy of Art, "French Art: 1200-1900," 1932, cat. 797. The Art Institute of Chicago, "Drawings Old and New," 1946, p. 13, cat. 17, pl. VIII, cat. by Carl O. Schniewind. Oberlin, Ohio, Allan Memorial Art Museum, "Master Drawings of the 18th Century from France and Italy," 1951. New York, Wildenstein and Company, "Master Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago," October 17-November 30, 1963, n.p., cat. 61. The Art Institute of Chicago, "Selected Works of 18th Century French Art in the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago," January 24-March 28, 1976, p. 68, cat. 61 (ill.). Paris, Musée du Louvre, "Dessins français de l’Art Institute de Chicago de Watteau à Picasso," October 15, 1976-January 17, 1977, n.p., cat. 19 (ill.). Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, "Französische Zeichnungen aus dem Art Institute of Chicago," February 10-April 10, 1977, pp. 46-47, cat. 18 (ill.). Philadelphia Museum of Art: "In Pursuit of Genius: Jean-Antoine Houdon and the Sculpted Portraits of Benjamin Franklin," May 13-July 30, 2006, fig. 10, (ill.), p. 8 [brochure].

    Publications

    Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of French art, 1200-1900: Royal Academy of Arts, London, January-March 1932 (London: Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1933), cat. 681, pp. 147, pl. 173 (ill.). Carl O. Schniewind, Drawings Old and New (Chicago, 1946), no. 17. The American Teacher Journal, XXXI:4 (January 1947), Illustration on Cover. Bulletin of the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, VIII:1 (Fall 1950), pp. 52-53, 65, no. 8 (ill.). Masterpieces in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1952), n.p. A.T.E. Gardiner, "Huntington’s Franklin", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, XV:1 (Summer 1956), pp. 16-17. Louis Reau, Fragonard: Sa Vie et Son Oeuvre (Brussells, 1956), pp. 210-11, fig. 138. Alexandre Ananoff, L’Oeuvre Dessiné de Jean-Honoré Fragonard, vol. 1 (Paris, 1961), no. 138, fig. 60. Charles Coleman Sellers, Benjamin Franklin in Portraiture (New Haven and London, 1962), pp. 310-311. Herold Joachim, “Trois siècles de portraits dessinés à l’Art Institute de Chicago,” L’Oeil, 255 (October 1976), p. 3, no. 2 (ill.) Harold Joachim, French Drawings and Sketchbooks of the Eighteenth Century (Chicago, 1977), pp. 26-27, no. 1E2. Pierre Rosenberg, "Franklin and Fragonard," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 150:4 (December 2006), pp. 587 and 589, fig. 15.

    Open-access museum data

    This record comes from the open-access collection data that the Art Institute of Chicago publishes for unrestricted use (Creative Commons Zero). Art Trackers shows a selection of the museum's published fields. The Art Institute of Chicago is not an Art Trackers client and has not reviewed or endorsed this page; the museum's own website is the authoritative record.

    • View this work at the Art Institute of Chicago
    • The Art Institute of Chicago: open-access terms

    Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.

    Quick Overview

    Artist
    Jean-Honoré Fragonard / French, 1732-1806
    Date
    c. 1778
    Medium
    Brush and brown ink and brown wash on ivory laid paper, laid down on ivory laid paper
    Dimensions
    27.8 × 23.9 cm (11 × 9 7/16 in.)
    Type
    Drawing
    Classification
    ink or chalk wash
    Place
    France
    Department
    Prints and Drawings
    Credit line
    Gift of Mrs. Charles Netcher as a memorial to Charles Netcher II
    Accession no.
    1933.806

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    • Arbor with Two Children (Le Nid d'Armour)

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      Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago

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    Open-access museum record · AT-00004298

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