# Portrait of Benjamin Franklin [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MARTIN, David]() - Date: 1751-1800 - Technique: Oil on canvas on panel, 127 x 101 cm ## Commentary This portrait of Benjamin Franklin was commissioned by Robert Alexander, of the firm of William Alexander & Sons, Edinburgh. The beribboned document held by Franklin in the portrait is not a treaty or an Act of Parliament, but one of Alexander's deeds. The other books and pamphlets suggest the learned evidence brought in support of a wise man's decision. The bust of Isaac Newton, whose gaze is directed toward Franklin, invokes the greatest English voice of Reason. ## Related artworks - [Portrait of James Macpherson]() - [Self-Portrait]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()