Charles Philippe Amédée Vanloo (1715-1795) (after)
Pierre-Michel Alix (1762-1817) (engraver)
Francklin [Benjamin Franklin]
[Marie-François Drouhin], Paris: c. 1790-1795
Color-printed etching and aquatint
12 x 10 inches, oval, overall
9.5 x 8 inches, oval, image
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Benjamin Franklin
After Charles Philippe Amédée Vanloo, 1795
After Charles Philippe Amédée Vanloo, 1795
Etching after Vanloo of his portrait of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), entitled Francklin. Vanloo's original oil portrait was probably painted in France during Franklin's stay there between 1777 and 1785. It is now in the collection of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, which Franklin co-founded (see References below). Vanloo portrayed Franklin with a direct gaze and a hint of a smile, in keeping with his reputation as a wise and witty man. As is sometimes the case with engravings made after paintings, the image is reversed. The fur-lined coat in Vanloo's portrait was also replaced by a plainer suit in the print, which was issued during the American Revolution. Franklin was hugely popular with the French. When he arrived there on an official mission from the newly formed American government in late 1776, he was already widely admired as a scientist, writer, and a shrewd and principled statesman. After successfully negotiating two important treaties in 1778, he stayed on as ambassador until 1785.
Charles Philippe Amédée Vanloo was a French painter of genre and allegorical scenes as well as portraits. His paintings are in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and Museum of the Chateau of Versailles in France.
Pierre-Michel Alix was a French printmaker. During the last two decades of the 18th century he was among the popularizers of the technique of multiple-plate color printing for the intaglio processes of mezzotint, aquatint, stipple and crayon manner. While he produced depictions of contemporary Parisian life and fashion, he was best known for his color aquatint portraits of celebrated figures of the French Revolution and Napoleonic period, including members of the French National Assembly, Jean-Paul Marat, and others. His patriotic portraits of two "boy heroes" of the Revolution were widely distributed. On the other hand, he also engraved a fine portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette, after Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun. During the political turmoil of the late 1790s, Alix destroyed many of his best copperplates, fearing that his depiction of Revolutionary subjects might invite persecution. He shifted his subject matter to less controversial historical subjects and styles derived from Classical antiquity.
References:
"Benjamin Franklin." American Philosophical Society. http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/gallery/ports/vanloo.htm (13 January 2003).
Hubert H. Bancroft, ed. "Benjamin Franklin in France." The Great Republic by the Master Historians. Vol. 2. Online at Public Bookshelf.com. 20 May 1996. http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/The_Great_Republic_By_the_Master_Historians_Vol_II/benjaminf_hc.html (13 January 2003).
"Pierre-Michel Alix." The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/00/0018/T001844.asp (13 January 2003).