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Primary sourcePainting1762

Benjamin Franklin, mezzotint by C. Turner after M. Chamberlin

Mason Chamberlin · 1762

A 1762 mezzotint portrait of Benjamin Franklin, based on a painting by Mason Chamberlin, made during Franklin's lifetime.

A lifetime portrait print of Franklin showing him as a scholarly figure, seated with pen and papers.

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Engraved portrait print of an older man with white hair seated in a chair, holding a quill pen, with papers on a table and a framed picture behind him. Signature "Benj. Franklin" below. Artist credits along the bottom edge.
Mezzotint by C. Turner after M. Chamberlin, Benjamin Franklin, 1762. Wellcome Collection, London.

About this source

What it is

This is a mezzotint print made in 1762, copying an earlier portrait painting of Benjamin Franklin by the artist Mason Chamberlin. It shows an older man seated with a quill pen and papers, with a framed picture behind him. It is held today by the Wellcome Collection in London.

Why it matters

Portraits like this spread an image of Franklin as a serious, learned man to audiences in Britain. It shows how prints, copied from paintings, helped build public reputations before photography existed.

Look closer

  • What objects surround Franklin, and what do they suggest about how he wanted to be seen?
  • Why might an artist choose to show a pen and papers rather than other objects?
  • How does copying a painting into a print change or spread an image?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Benjamin Franklin on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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