Portrait of Franklin, derived from the David Martin 1766 portrait. Franklin is shown seated before a rectangular table or desk covered with a heavy, red cloth. His chair is suggested by a red-covered seat with a rounded back. He is dressed in a teal-green suit with gold braid and button detailing at the sleeves and down both lapels. A ruffled, white shirt is visible at neck and wrists. On his head is a white, curled wig; he wears dark-framed glasses with round lenses. On the table at his right elbow is a cluster of books. He holds a sheaf of papers in his left hand; others lie before him on the table. He is shown deep in study of the papers he holds, his head supported on his right arm, thumb beneath his chin, in a posture that was apparently habitual. The background is dark gray-brown, with the suggestion of a deep red curtain. A bust of Isaac Newton in the left background appears to gaze down on him. The carved and gilded rococo frame is believed to be the work of the 18th century Philadelphia carver James Reynolds.

Copied by Franklin's contemporary, Peale, for Franklin's institution, the American Philosophical Society