Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-15

called types" Thus the Cochin type
includes the work of six or seven engravers,
but interprets through the medium of their
several renderings one and the same por-
trait. This is perhaps of all one of the
most attractive. To it the late Mr.. Hay
referred when in an article he wrote:
They published more than $50 engrav1ngs
of him. SO that his fur cap and spectacles
became as familiar as the face OF the king
on the louis DOR
The original was drawn by Charles Mich
olas Cochin in 1777 and whether it was fiat
tered Or not sets forth the great diplomat
with much more benificent, philosophical
EXPRESSION than any other of his artistic IN
terpretors. 1t alone, unless we except the
Duplessis portrait also, measures up to the
character of the great man who through
history we have learned to know and TO
honor. 1t has been engraved by George IL.
Perine. by Peter Maverick, by II. Wright
Smith and others, and beautifully etched
by John Reich. One of the early prints
bears the interesting and all comprehensive
superscription Benjamin Franklin, Yam
kee Printer. Philosopher, Patriot, States
man and Free Mason, the first grand mas
ter of Free Masons of Pennsylvania.
DupIessis' Portrait
The Duplessis portrait is the one now in
the Metropolitan Museum which was paint
ed in France in 1888 and reproduced by en-
craving as a frontispiece to the Bigelow
edition of Franklin's autobiography. 1t is
less pictorial than the Cochin, but equally
as convincing-a straightforward repre-
sanitation which impresses the observer with
its simplicity and probable truth. This was
originally in the possession of Mr.. Barnet.
consul general for the United States in
Paris, but passed in '6S into the hands of
Mr.. Bfgelow, and later to the museum. 1t
was early engraved by j. Thomson under
the superfntendance of the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge later by
George Perine. by HI. B. Hall and others
Under the "Duplessis type" is found a
quaint. pictorial print showing this portrait
rudely interpreted, together with the house
No. Craven street, where Franklin once
lodged, and Cox's printing office, in which
he worked. He Is pictured crudely as visit
ing the latter and as declaring to awe
struck audience, "It is now forty years
since worked here, like you, at this pre- IS,
| q journeyman printer"
It has been said that no two persons see
anything alike and In the field of portraiture
this seems amply verified. In the present
exhibition there Is not one but many Frank
| Inns. Stevens and handles, tat men and
| thin, philosophers and cynics. Up to the
present time the only memorial of Franklin
| he sometimes stayed declaring him to have
been "the first man to introduce the light
ming rod into France" For this they dc
| him honor, forgetting or ignoring the politi-
cal thunderbolt which he let fly at their
institutions. Likewise the lightning has
been made a notable feature In many OF
| his portraits-a catering to the childish de-
side for meaning and love or display which
characterized the weakest period Of modern
art.
benjamin Vests portrait is specially dra-
matte, showing Franklin seated like q
divinity on q throne surrounding him with
heavenly o. categorical figures, nude, and