Mask of Benjamin Franklin, 1790?
Hutton Collection of Life...
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Hutton Collection of Life and Death Masks. Department of Rare Books and Special Collection. Princeton University Library.

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Related Publications

Sellers, Charles Coleman, Benjamin Franklin in Portraiture (New Haven: Yale University, 1962) Plate 44.

Provenance
From Laurence Hutton's collection of life and death masks, a gift to Princeton University. The question of Houdon's having owned a mask of Franklin is unresolved, since the masks sold at Houdon's death are not identified. However, Houdon's correspondence lends strength to the opinion that the artist appears to have been introduced to Franklin only after the initial bust was exhibited. He appears to have made that bust from casual observation rather than either formal sittings or the taking of a mask.
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