Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Apotheosis of Franklin
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1926
Dimensions:
360 × 192 in. (914.4 × 487.7 cm)
Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Accession number: SUPP2000.1295
Research Number: NCW: 1295
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH / 1926; lower left: © The Franklin Savings Bank of New York
ProvenanceFranklin Savings Bank, New York, NY, to 1974; Independence Hall Association, Philadelphia, PA, to 1990
References
N. C. Wyeth, "An Apotheosis of Franklin, A Mural Decoration," Ladies' Home Journal, vol. XLIII, no. 7, (July 1926), illustration in color p. 13, with credit below, © Franklin Savings Bank of New York City; John Walker Harrington, "Colorful Assets in the Murals," The Burroughs Clearing House (1926), p. 19; Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971). ps. 704, 712, 723; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972). ps. 161-162, illustration in color, p. 161; William P. Frank, "Wyeth's Franklin Goes Home," Sunday News Journal (Wilmington, DE), July 1, 1979; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.32, p. 612, 613
Curatorial RemarksThe artist wrote in October, 1925, "The panel is shaping up toward completion--at least the lower half which contains the 23 figures--the upper half...is mainly architecture and sky and should not be so hard....The problem of 20 portrait figures was some job and each figure a heroic size (7 ft. each)" (NCW to Andrew Newell Wyeth, Oct. 30, 1925, Wyeth Family Archives). Wyeth identified each figure in a short description of the mural he wrote for Ladies' Home Journal. The Brandywine River Museum holds a blueprint of the bank (NCWS.95.2282) dated Feb. 1924 which came from the artist's studio. The mural was removed from its original site, on 8th Avenue and 42nd Street, in 1974 by Hiram H. Hoelzer of New York.
The Franklin Savings Bank had three sets of 4-color printing plates made for reproductions of this image, 2 1/2 x 5," 8 x 16," and 13 x 29 5/8". (The smallest set is at the Brandywine River Museum.) In 1940, for the bank's 80th anniversary, the image was reproduced on its annual calendar (through the Thomas D. Murphy Company of Red Oak, Iowa) and as a postcard.;Written by N. C. Wyeth and published in Ladies' Home Journal, July 1926
An Apotheosis of Franklin, A Mural Decoration
"The central figure of this group represents the benign and mature figure of Benjamin Franklin. About him are his great contemporaries, men who worked with him and through him for the building of this Nation.
Lifting above them, out of the fullness of autumn foliage, looms the familiar belfry of Independence Hall in Philadelphia-symbol of Liberty. The painting, which measures sixteen by thirty feet, was made for the Franklin Savings Bank of New York City.
Of the patriots of the Revolution, Franklin was the only one to sign all four of the state papers which achieved the complete independence of these Unites States-the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace with England and the Constitution.
I have endeavored to depict him as patriot and statesman, inevitably disregarding his preeminence as printer, merchant, author, editor, inventor, scientist, philosopher, diplomat and philanthropist. Few men have possessed Franklin's hold upon the respect and affection of his associates. Hence it seemed fitting to present him surrounded by those with whom he labored in the making of a republic. Upon the rostrum, from left to right, are Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Robert Treat Paine, John Paul Jones, James Madison, John Jay, Samuel Adams, George Washington, General Lafayette, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, John Marshall, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Monroe, Robert Morris and Thomas Paine."
The Franklin Savings Bank had three sets of 4-color printing plates made for reproductions of this image, 2 1/2 x 5," 8 x 16," and 13 x 29 5/8". (The smallest set is at the Brandywine River Museum.) In 1940, for the bank's 80th anniversary, the image was reproduced on its annual calendar (through the Thomas D. Murphy Company of Red Oak, Iowa) and as a postcard.;Written by N. C. Wyeth and published in Ladies' Home Journal, July 1926
An Apotheosis of Franklin, A Mural Decoration
"The central figure of this group represents the benign and mature figure of Benjamin Franklin. About him are his great contemporaries, men who worked with him and through him for the building of this Nation.
Lifting above them, out of the fullness of autumn foliage, looms the familiar belfry of Independence Hall in Philadelphia-symbol of Liberty. The painting, which measures sixteen by thirty feet, was made for the Franklin Savings Bank of New York City.
Of the patriots of the Revolution, Franklin was the only one to sign all four of the state papers which achieved the complete independence of these Unites States-the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace with England and the Constitution.
I have endeavored to depict him as patriot and statesman, inevitably disregarding his preeminence as printer, merchant, author, editor, inventor, scientist, philosopher, diplomat and philanthropist. Few men have possessed Franklin's hold upon the respect and affection of his associates. Hence it seemed fitting to present him surrounded by those with whom he labored in the making of a republic. Upon the rostrum, from left to right, are Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Robert Treat Paine, John Paul Jones, James Madison, John Jay, Samuel Adams, George Washington, General Lafayette, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, John Marshall, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Monroe, Robert Morris and Thomas Paine."
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1.) Digital photography directly from mural; 2.) Key to figures, printed by University of Pennsylvania, ca. 1978 (Brandywine River Museum library)
Photo Credit:1. Courtesy University of Pennsylvania Art Collection