Terracotta Plaque Depicting Benjamin Franklin Dated 1777

A Terracotta Relief Plaque of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Made by Jean-Baptiste Nini (1717–1786)

Based on a drawing by Thomas Walpole (English, 1755–1840)

Inscribed B. FRANKLIN AMERICAIN/NINI/F 1777

Signed and dated 1777

Circular, diameter 12 cm

Clay terracotta medallions of Benjamin Franklin were among the earliest portraits of the statesman available in France. Their maker, Nini, worked for Jacques Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, Franklin's pro-American landlord. Franklin sent one example to his daughter Sarah and her husband, Richard Bache, who thought the medallion a better likeness than the print by Augustin de Saint-Aubin, which Franklin also sent them.

Born in Urbino, Italy, Nini was a medallist and engraver. Interested only in portraits, Nini executed likenesses of his friends, who included many of the most significant figures of the period, including Benjamin Franklin (1777), Louis XV (1770), Maria-Theresa, Empress of Austria (1769 and 1770) and Voltaire (1780), among others. Working only in terracotta from a carved wax mould, Nini modelled about one hundred portraits, but was able to retain the model and produce a large number of medallions (See S. Scher, Dictionary of Art, 1986, vol. 23, p. 156).