B. Franklin. Americain[relief title]

1777. [NINI, Jean Baptiste]. B. Franklin. Americain[relief title]. [N.p., but likely Paris. 1777]. Circular terra cotta medallion with border, 4? inches in diameter. Minute soiling. A few minor chips. Very good in a custom folding box. Jean Baptiste Nini's famous Franklin terra cotta medallion, showing the Founding Father in relief with his trademark fur cap but without his spectacles. The mark, "NINI F 1777," with crest, appears beneath the image. Nini, a Paris-based Italian sculptor, was commissioned to create the medallions by Jacques Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, a prominent businessman and American sympathizer, whose portrait Nini had rendered in similar style in 1771. Presumably pleased with his prior purchase, Chaumont sent Nini a profile drawing of Franklin by the twenty-two year old son of Thomas Walpole, an English banker. It has been suggested that Nini added the fur hat, a look that Franklin made his trademark in Paris. The medallion was issued at the apex of Franklin's popularity in France. After his public embarrassment at the hands of Alexander Weddeburn, the British Solicitor-General, who accused Franklin of being a thief for his role in publishing the infamous Hutchinson letters in 1775, by October, 1776, Franklin had resumed his diplomatic service abroad, this time in Paris. In early 1777, Franklin achieved his greatest diplomatic success - the promise of French assistance in the war against Great Britain. By 1778, Franklin was selected by Congress to be the sole minister plenipotentiary, and was clearly the United States' lead representative to France. Franklin became an instant celebrity in Paris. He enjoyed cordial relations with Louis XV, Voltaire, and much of the Parisian aristocracy, as well as great popularity with the lower classes referred to by John Adams as, "plebeians." His likeness was painted, engraved, and sculpted numerous times. Contemporary European reproductions of Franklin's image often show him, as here, with one or both of his trademark accessories: a fur hat and glasses. Among these many likenesses, Nini's medallion was extremely popular and responsible for cementing Franklin's image in the public mind. An iconic Franklin image. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND HIS CIRCLE 35.