Benjamin Franklin, (sculpture).

Benjamin Franklin, (sculpture).

Greenough, Richard Saltonstall, 1819-1904, sculptor.

Ball, Thomas, 1819-1911, sculptor.

Ames Manufacturing Company, founder.

Benjamin Franklin, (sculpture).

Modeled 1855. Dedicated Sept. 17, 1856. Plaques cast 1856-1858. Memorial rededicated Sept. 18, 1865.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: marble and granite.

Sculpture: approx. 8 ft. 4 in. x 2 ft. 2 in. x 2 ft. 2 in.; Base: approx. 9 ft. 3 in. x 7 ft. 6 in. x 7 ft. 6 in.

(Inscribed on statue proper right:) RICHARD S. GREENOUGH FECIT BOSTON 1855 (Inscribed on statue proper left in script:) Ames Mfg. Co. Founders Chicopee Mass. (Inscribed front plaque left side:) R. S. Greenough (Inscribed front plaque right side:) Ames Mfg. Co. Found/Chicopee Mass. (Inscribed back plaque:) Eripuil Coelo Fulmen Sceptrumque Tyrannis (Inscribed back plaque lower right:) R.S. Greenough fecit 1857 (Inscribed back plaque lower left:) Ames Mfg. Co. founders/Chicopee Mass. signed Founder's mark appears.

A full-length standing figure of Franklin on square pedestal with four relief panels showing scenes from Franklin's life. He is wearing a colonial suit and holds his tricorn hat in his proper left hand. The relief panels depict Franklin as a young boy learning to print; at the signing of the Declaration of Independence; drawing electricity from the clouds; and signing the Treaty of Paris in 1873.

Portrait male -- Franklin, Benjamin -- Full length

Occupation -- Political -- Statesman

Occupation -- Education -- Philosopher

Occupation -- Science -- Inventor

Occupation -- Writer -- Author

Occupation -- Political -- Postmaster

Ceremony -- Civic -- Political

History -- United States -- Declaration of Independence

History -- United States -- Treaty of Paris

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Boston

Administered by City of Boston, Boston Art Commission, Office of Cultural Affairs, Boston City Hall, Room 716, Boston, Massachusetts 02201

Located Old City Hall, School Street, front courtyard, Boston, Massachusetts

Formerly located Bullfinch's Court House, Boston, Massachusetts

The statue commemorates Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), scientist, inventor, journalist, philosopher, and ambassador. Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston and moved to Philadelphia at the age of 17. The statue was funded by public subscription. It was originally placed in front of Bullfinch's Court House, then City Hall, a building replaced in the early 1860s by the present Old City Hall. The statue cost $20,000 and was erected in honor of the sesquincentennial of Franklin's birth. The statue is reportedly the first portrait statue erected in Boston.

Greenough was responsible for the Franklin statue and the front and back base plaques --Franklin Experimenting with Electricity and Franklin in His Printing Shop. The two plaques by Greenough were cast by Ames Manufacturing Company in 1857. Thomas Ball was responsible for the other two base plaques --Franklin at Paris Peace Treaty and Franklin at the Declaration of Independence. The plaques by Ball, his first public commission, were also cast by Ames Manufacturing Company ca. 1856-1857.

IAS files contain articles from the Daily Evening Transcript (Boston), Jan. 18, 1854, 2:2 and March 2, 1854, 2:2, discussing the resolution to erect the statue of Franklin in the city of his birth. IAS files also contain a transcript of a notice in the Daily Evening Transcript (Boston), Jan. 18, 1855, 2:3 noting that the Franklin sculpture will be cast at Ames. And, IAS files contain an article from The Crayon (Jan. 1858): pg. 24 noting that the relief plaques by Thomas Ball --Franklin at the Declaration of Independence and Franklin at Paris Peace Treaty --have been cast in bronze, and Greenough has completed his two relief plaques for the base, and they are now at Ames to be cast in bronze.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1993.

Carlock, Marty, "A Guide to Public Art in Greater Boston: From Newburyport to Plymouth," Boston: The Harvard Common Press, rev. ed., 1993, pg. 70.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.

Whitehill, Walter Muir, "Boston Statues," Barre, Massachusetts: Barre Publishers, 1970, pg. 22.

Zoukee, Sophye M., "Adopt-A-Statue Casebook," Boston: City of Boston, 1990.

Boston Art Commission, 1991.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, MA5105, 1989.

Monumental News, Oct., 1894, pg. 485.

Moore, Merl M., Jr., 1994.

Daily Evening Transcript (Boston), Jan. 18, 1854, 2:2.

Daily Evening Transcript (Boston), March 2, 1854, 2:2.

Daily Evening Transcript (Boston), Jan. 18, 1855, 2:3.

Daily Evening Transcript (Boston), Sept. 10, 1856, 2:4.

Boston Transcript, Feb. 6, 1858, 3:4.

Boston Transcript, April 17, 1858, 2:1.

The Crayon (Jan 1858): pg. 24.

Zoukee, Sophye M., "Adopt-A-Statue Casebook," Boston: City of Boston, 1990, pg. 33.

Monumental News, Oct. 1894, pg. 485.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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