Dec 13, 2005
Library of Congress exhibits papers of Benjamin Franklin on the occasion of what would be his 300th birthday
A young French damsel seems to be polishing Ben Franklin's bald pate with a feather duster in the hand-colored lithograph depicting his reception at the Court of France in 1778.
But it's not a feather duster, says Gerard W. Gawalt, manuscript historian and curator of the exhibition, Ben Franklin: In His Own Words, which opens today at the Library of Congress.
"It's supposed to be a laurel wreath," he says.
The lithograph is among 75 items from the library's Ben Franklin Collection on display in celebration of Franklin's 300th birthday(on Jan. 17).
Franklin, who helped craft the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, rose from the humblest beginnings to achieve fame as a printer, author, scientist, philanthropist, inventor, politician and diplomat - in short as a New World Renaisssance man. He remains perhaps most famous for his Poor Richard's Almanac with its doggerel poetry and proverbs.
In the exhibition lithograph, elegant French women of the court, in off-the-shoulder gowns with adorable bustles, surround Franklin. They loved him in France, the women especially, it has often been said. He was admired and feted throughout Europe, even in Britain where he was a deputy postmaster until they decided he was definitely a revolutionary.
"He made a point of arriving for the reception in the French court in a plain Quaker suit, although he wasn't a Quaker," Gawalt says. "He was very good at portraying an image of the simple American. Although he was probably the most famous American in the 18th century because of his scientific experiments."
But, Gawalt says, "he became very much part of the French elite. The wine and brie set loved him."
But it's not a feather duster, says Gerard W. Gawalt, manuscript historian and curator of the exhibition, Ben Franklin: In His Own Words, which opens today at the Library of Congress.
"It's supposed to be a laurel wreath," he says.
The lithograph is among 75 items from the library's Ben Franklin Collection on display in celebration of Franklin's 300th birthday(on Jan. 17).
Franklin, who helped craft the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, rose from the humblest beginnings to achieve fame as a printer, author, scientist, philanthropist, inventor, politician and diplomat - in short as a New World Renaisssance man. He remains perhaps most famous for his Poor Richard's Almanac with its doggerel poetry and proverbs.
In the exhibition lithograph, elegant French women of the court, in off-the-shoulder gowns with adorable bustles, surround Franklin. They loved him in France, the women especially, it has often been said. He was admired and feted throughout Europe, even in Britain where he was a deputy postmaster until they decided he was definitely a revolutionary.
"He made a point of arriving for the reception in the French court in a plain Quaker suit, although he wasn't a Quaker," Gawalt says. "He was very good at portraying an image of the simple American. Although he was probably the most famous American in the 18th century because of his scientific experiments."
But, Gawalt says, "he became very much part of the French elite. The wine and brie set loved him."