HUNTINGTON'S FRANKLINS

Transcription

1 HUNTNGTON'S FRANKLNS BY ALBERT TEN EYCK GARDNER Assocate Cuato of Amecan At Ths yea, beng celebated as the two hunded and ffteth annvesay of the bth of Benjamn Fankln, affods us an oppotunty to edscove the beautes and cuostes of the Wllam Heny Huntngton collecton of Fankln potats n ths Museum and to bng togethe fo the fst tme n some seventy yeas o moe the scatteed facts and fogotten ccumstances of M. Huntngton's nteestng lfe as one of the most ndefatgable collectos of Amecana of hs tme. All Fankln scholas and students wll of couse emembe hm fo the key pat he played n the nneteenth-centuy evval of Fankln studes. Fst, to avod confuson, t should be sad that ou Wllam Huntngton was not closely elated to the founde of the Heny Huntngton Lbay n Calfona though both men wee membes n some dstant cousnly degee of that vast famly clan, and both wee actve collectos of Amecana. n 1883 the Museum eceved as a gft fom M. Huntngton hs collecton of moe than two thousand Amecan potats-most of them potats of Fankln, Washngton, and Lafayette. Shotly afte hs death n 1885 hs fend John Bgelow deposted n the Museum's lbay Huntngton's collecton of Fankln books. Taken all togethe the Huntngton collecton conssts of about 2,000 pnts, appoxmately 400 medals, busts, pantngs, etc., and some 600 books and pamphlets. The Fankln potats n the Huntngton collecton when added to the othe potats of Fankln whch the Museum has acqued fom othe souces make a body of Fankln mateal that s pobably the most extensve and vaed goup of ts knd, wth a ange fom mastepeces by ecognzed atsts to commecal souvens of the tme of Napoleon. Two of these potats-the mable bust by Houdon and the pantng by Duplesss-ae hstoc and atstc woks of the vey fst ode. n addton to these we have n ou Pnt Depatment epesentatve mpessons of most of the well-known engaved potats of Fankln. Dung Fankln's lfetme thousands of pota ts of hm wee made. Fo the lkenesses of the kndly, shewd old face that we accept wthout queston and ecognze wthout hestaton as the tue mage of the man, the pattens wee set by some of the best pantes and sculptos of the tme-the best-emembeed pehaps beng Houdon and Duplesss. These wee the magemakes, who set down the essentals. Followng them wee the hosts of effgy-makes, the copysts, castes of plaste, makes of des, and the many engaves of vayng degees of skll. Such was the demand fo copes that these popula talsmans of lbety and wsdom-tokens of the almost unvesal admaton fo Fankln-wee scatteed boadcast. n the many vaatons upon the essental pattens all the epettve mechancal cafts of the gaphc and glyptc ats wee called upon to stamp, cut, mpess, and tace the multpled mage of the man. The supeb potat bust of Fankln by Hou- don was gven to the Museum by John Bad ( ), bothe-n-law of John Taylo Johnston, the Museum's fst Pesdent. Asde fom ts nteest as an mpotant wok by the Fench sculpto, and ts hstocal mpotance as one of the vey fnest potats of Benjamn Fankln, t has also the dstncton of beng the fst pece of sculptue acqued by the Museum. t was pesented by M. Bad n 1872 and has emaned one of the Museum's geat teasues. Fo a long tme ths bust was supposed to have belonged to Fankln's fend, D. John Bad of Hyde Pak ( ), but moe ecent eseaches tace ts owneshp fom Houdon, who left t n Phladelpha wth the atst Robet Edge Pne to be sold. n 1802 t was n the possesson of Du Pont de Nemous, who offeed t to the state of Vgna wthout success. Hs son sold (o "tansfeed") t to Ncholas Cuge, fom whom hs daughte Cathene (Ms. Wl- 16 The Metopoltan Museum of At s collaboatng wth JSTOR to dgtze, peseve, and extend access to The Metopoltan Museum of At Bulletn

2 THE METROPOLTAN MUSEUM OF ART Summe BULLETN 1956

3 lam Bad) nheted t. He son, John Bad, nheted t fom he and gave t to the Museum. The Duplesss potat, whch came to the Museum n 1932 as pat of the Mchael Fedsam collecton, s geneally accepted as the ognal pantng that Duplesss exhbted at the Pas Salon of Thee ae a numbe of eplcas o old copes of ths potat n vaous collectonspehaps a dozen n othe Amecan collectons (one of the eplcas s n the Huntngton Collecton). The expets' opnon that the Fedsam potat s the ognal pantng fo whch Fankln posed s suppoted by the fact that ts vey handsome old fame s descbed n contempoay accounts of the Salon of These accounts menton the caved sepent, an ancent symbol of sagacty, entwned n a galand of lauel, oak, and f_ bay at the top of the fame. At the bottom, unde the nscbed catouche, ae caved thee moe attbutes, whch seemed to have escaped Wllam Wm H. H H Huntngto attenton n spte of the Gay ( ). Gt Gay (,856-g937). Gft appopate and entetanng symbolsm. These ae the hde of a flayed lon, a not too obscue efeence to Fankln's dplomatc tumph ove the Btsh; the flamng toch of Lbety; and at one sde, caught up on the lon's tal, a tasseled cap-t may be a Lbety cap, o t may suggest the fu cap Fankln woe n place of a wg, a satoal nnovaton that shocked and delghted Fench socety. The Latn nscpton vr (to be tanslated lteally, "a man") s cetanly the mot juste fo one whose plan vtues stood n no need of eulogstc odomontade. n addton to these woks of at thee s the lage and cuous sees of Fankln potats n n0 the Huntngton collecton. Except fo the fne engavngs acqued by Huntngton hs collecton s a athe heteogeneous lot of dawngs, pantngs, busts, statuettes, mnatues, medallons, medals, cons, tokens, postage stamps, snuffboxes, ngs, plates, and what not. Some of them ae old and of nteest, but many of them ae md-nneteenth-centuy poductons; n fact some ae dated as late as 883-the yea M. Huntngton pesented them to the Museum. n collectons of ths sot and sze a cetan numbe of the tems ae 2-18 b a bound to fall athe fa below the level of woks of at-some ndeed ae A. L_ lttle moe than knck- knacks. M. Huntngton was well awae of ths, and the wost of these lttle souvens amused of_ a t a n hm vey much; n actual ngto al? fact he bought some of them because they wee so bad, so vey fa fom beng accuate potats of hs heo. Huntngton's nteest n Amecan hstoy was geneal, but n collectng (8 88s), by Walte he concentated on f Geoge Geoge A. Fankln, Lucas, A. 9 as, Washngton, g1 and Lafayette. As hs collecton gew he was, lke most collectos, unable to esst oppotuntes to buy potat pnts and medallons of othe Amecan wothes. But of them all Fankln was hs favote, wth Washngton a athe cool second. He was one of those collectos whose enthusasm fo hs subject gadually made t mpossble fo hm to pass up any potat of Fankln no matte how badly dawn, how cheaply made, o how clumsy. Huntngton was defntely not an at collecto, and he was neve unde any lluson about the qualty of these mementos. Afte M. Huntngton's death n 885 hs fends Geoge A. Lucas, Samuel P. Avey, and 17

4 ,,; L, "a. ---?C--- Z-..?1??;?, 7,.?.' _ '4?.?p:? C: Y?` b..ll?... c-??? j`s??-.,- 1?-. " (??',-.,, '? c - _1.???'?'' ;'t?:?? ;1- ' '.- ` Z /,, '', -t.f ( ': "? '. ''?-?t?13?,,!, t c,'.. -n ;4 -s S.,/,.'f' "5,, *t? St 4.?.,, '" ' 1 / 11~?' * '. ' *.t k:: ( t -"'?-?? 1/? \ 1 gt - JC' )? /" 11? l 1 P?, " ' `` '?"2-?- --?---?b ' ' - t 1? 1,, ' JP' 5;h- jl;lj (.?? E ) lt / C v? 1- h-;.t.t? -?--- /l? 4.? c-, L L1 `?)...????1Q( "' c.? Jz _ (,? - \.. '?. L,?,,.. j.1. ';.. c,??'?.:? C??? v'-,??.? j 1? l)?3 ; -t y 3 t??'? ;????, -=.?z; a \\ 5?1\, n` C ;3 -Z,.?Cm., z Y. \-" ZS 4.?J.,?. J -?t ;? ]. "":.v --?c' -: "-tl??:"-7"_lc,?,,.* C' 'C1 3-,, -?" t, Allegoy of the tumph of Benjamn Fankln and Fance ove Btan, pobably by Moeau lejeune ( ), about The objects llustated on these pages, except whee noted, Gft of Wllam H. Huntngton, 88? John Bgelow pesented seveal potats to be added to the collecton, one of them a potat of M. Huntngton panted n Pas by Walte Gay. The Huntngton collecton of Fankln and othe potats was exhbted by the Museum fo about twenty yeas n spte of the fact that t was of nteest manly fo ts hstocal athe than ts atstc value. About 1906 t was eted to stoage. Subsequently the "moden" knckknacks wee weeded out and dsposed of. These wee mostly small base-metal tokens, lttle plaste busts, and some panted plates and medallons, all of them of late nneteenth-centuy manufactue, none of them of the slghtest atstc o hstocal sgnfcance. One of M. Huntngton's geatest teasues and the one most hghly pzed by hm s the bscut pocelan statuette of Fankln and Lous XV at the sgnng of the teates of allance between Fance and the Unted States. t s supposed to have been modeled by Leme about 1780 o 1785, and only thee o fou othe copes of t ae known. As a "potat" of Fankln ths s pehaps the best of ts class, but ts class s, nevetheless, that of Fench bc-a-bac. Lous s vey gand and condescendng, Fankln vey meek and bendng. The small scale, the 18

5 V:. z dtp'' '7YL;? '-;";, 4-Lll*PC " X t? 'P' :?*, -? -, P( : -d: a; "?%*: '?,.?.4 : _," 1 b-:: " a *, 5,, j k.. Benjamn Fankln ( ), by Jean Antone Houdon (74-828). Dated Gft of John Bad,

6 L 1?.? (??? ; s.?:-lc ''??.;?) -?:, '7a b -?;:? UM LAntEuQu?1??:'-?; " Y 1 :: 1, 4,- ~ ~, :, 1 N, " M. M,.- J lo,. S?-,, * 1?? 4? ;",? l 1 ' ;-. "?t 1:? " $J 1 ' 1) :^d??? f?. --?d*c-- "j?._--.t-6??--cc? -- ;* -4 D; `?: 06 `??'":'' " Ye -?.*~l""'*" a; a;? "??.l, - " : *;- t l " 't C4- h '`? 1- -? X4 ]- " d L' - 8 L 1 Bscut pocelan statuette commemoatng the sgnng n 778 by Lous XV and Fankln of the teates of commece and allance between Fance and Ameca aganst Btan, n whch Fance ecognzed Ameca's ndebendence. Pobably by Chales Gabel Sauvage, called Leme ( ). Ndevlle, about

7 theatcal a hee educe an mpotant hstocal event to somewhat less than heoc popotons n a medum bette suted to memoalzng mnuettes. M. Huntngton's collecton of Fankln pnts and engavngs contans good mpessons of many of the excellent engaved potats, along wth a numbe of mno vaants-pnts that can only be consdeed ' - as scap-book mateal. T And tucked away n hs K ; albums thee ae seveal -^ vey nteestng ognal ; dawngs. The best of ';' these s a ';t, pencl sketch, pobably a study fo a ;. ' : ; pojected engavng by : ; t the famous desgne of * * a engavngs, Moeau le -] jeune. t shows an alle- ;. s goy n whch a potat.... ' bust of Fankln stands unde the potecton of a mltant beng holdng :7.- a sheld emblazoned.. wth fleus-de-ls, epe- sentng Fance. They ae backed by a banne of, Lbety and some ag- 1 gessve cannon. At one sde sts a bedaggled and dsguntled Btanna wth he symbolc lon, who appeas to be "playng dead" besde a bust cannon whle the symbolc Gallc cock holds a ggantc swod at hs chest. Huntngton says n hs catalogue: " bought ths sketch-fo t s athe sketch than fnshed dawng-fom Vgnees the sngulaly honest pnt selle and much expeenced expet, who was unhestatng n attbutng ts authoshp to Moeau. am apt to conjectue that t was commenced apopos of Fankln's death-and left unfnshed n that stom & pessue peod.-neve engaved." Fo those who value such nfomaton ths dawng would appea to be unfnshed, uncatalogued, unpublshed and un-engaved. t has a sgnatue, "J.J.M." and "moeau lejne," and s ndstnctly dated 1792 (?). M. Huntngton's less seous sde as a collecto of Amecan potats s pehaps best llustated by the Chnese potat of Fankln-a wate colo coped by a Chnese atst fom a small engavng n Shangha n 1883, whch was sent to Huntngton by one of hs fends n the Amecan dplomatc sevce. Thee ae n the collecton othe thngs of ths sot, whmscal cuos of a knd that llu- ;^-...:^~.... mnate one of the fagone stages of the colt ^ :^' ^:- lectng mana. ; *;' G^^Nf^C; ; f Huntngton's lbay y^^ S?,:;:. of Fankln books has :: l --*> always been a somewhat,;: :, : nconvenent poblem fo lbaans and custodans. When the old t,= *M^ k 4 man was taken ll n Pas ; 5, 1 '' and knew he had not long to lve he had these _^:. books V packed up and?'''.; shpped to hs dea fend John Bgelow, who was then one of the foemost ' Fankln scholas n ths county. Many yeas be- 3 /. ^^ foe, Bgelow had told 'f. t; f, hm that he would be nteested n ownng Chnese potat of Fank :1 n, a wate-colo copy of them. Huntngton ea popula engavng. By P 17oo Sang, Shangha, 1883 membeed ths, but ap- 21 paently Bgelow, hs mnd busy wth new pojects, had fogotten. n any case he sent the books to the Museum as New Yok Cty had no publc lbay at that tme. The Fankln lbay s now seldom consulted. n the ae-book wold ts exstence s emembeed pncpally because n the yea 1889 the bblogaphe Paul Leceste Fod was unaccountably efused pemsson to examne the collecton and he embalmed the fact n a sou lttle note n the peface to hs Fankln Bblogaphy. n late yeas, when M. Bgelow was so actve n foundng the New Yok Publc Lbay, t s cuous that he dd not wthdaw the Huntngton Fankln books fom the Museum to depost them n the new nsttuton, whee, pesumably, they mght be useful.

8 The Fankln lbay contans, among many epnts of standad woks and odd pamphlets, a numbe of extemely cuous volumes, the most cuous of all beng Huntngton's manuscpt catalogue of hs collecton. ts ttle page s a fa sample of M. Huntngton's whmscal appoach to the potat collecton. t eads: A/ sot of/ CATALOGUE/ of pats of my Amecanesque Collecton,/ n Pats./ Pat goes fom the begnnng to page [numbes of pages wee neve suppled]/ and deals by the way wth objects wheeby, n, of, on and wth vaous mateals and/ pocesses, vaant atsts and othe pesons have moe and less felctously essayed to/ to epesent moe and less completely the appeaances of the pesons and clothes of/ FRANKLN, WASHNGTON, LAFAYETTE,/ & Some Othes. nteed but-not engaved. /Pat goes fom page to to page, a lst of some/ CONS & MEDALS./ Pat fom page to page, s taken up wth/ an mpefectly descptve lst of potats pnted fom metal, stone o wood of/ BEN.JN FRANKLN./ pat V/ Hs mana fo potats of Fankln nduced hm to have hs atst fends embellsh the flyleaves of some of hs books wth pencl sketches--copes of well-known Fankln potats. Most of these wee done by obscue Amecan students, but thee s one by the pante Bague. Othe volumes have postage stamps o othe potats and lettes nseted n them. The only Fankln autogaph manuscpt n the collecton s a lette addessed to Fankln's old fend D. John Bad, gven by hs descendant John Bad n Though M. Huntngton neve lost sght of the seous hstocal aspects of hs collecton, he was also well awae of ts value to hm as an amusng pastme. And although thee ae some vey good thngs n t, among all the cuous odds and ends, whch a tue collecto mght envy hm, what seems most envable s M. Huntngton's thty-yea vacaton n Pas; hs collecton of a thousand golden aftenoons; hs unlmted tme to amble though the shops of old pnt-selles, antquaans, and junk deales; hs lesuely hous of ummagng though the bookstalls along the Sene, lued always on by the possblty of dscoveng some pceless tencentme teasue. One enves hm these seemngly amless wandengs whch would end accodng to pemedtated plan at some good estauant known fo cetan specaltes o enhanced by the eputaton of havng been the favote estauant of Voltae. M. Huntngton totued hs Amecan fends by descbng these dyllc expedtons n hs lettes and n epots on the dscovey of each teasue acqued fo hs collecton-" found the ummest bonze medallon of Fankln." Thee ae vey few bogaphcal accounts of M. Huntngton, and f hs chaacte wee to be judged solely by the cuostes of hs collecton one would be nclned to say that he was meely a mldly eccentc old codge wth a weakness fo collectng knckknacks. Ths, howeve, would be a seous eo. Although hs collecton emans today the neaest thng to an autobogaphy t s to be supplemented wth what some of hs fends have sad and wtten about hm. He was bon n 1820 n Nowch, Connectcut, the son of the Honoable Chales Huntngton. He had two olde bothes: one sgnfcantly named Benjamn Fankln, a fame who lved n Fankln, Connectcut, the othe James Monoe, who became a pospeous on mechant, shppng magnate, and mpote. Though Wllam s sad to have gaduated fom the Havad Law School the facts of hs late lfe would suggest that nethe the law no a busness caee appealed to hm. n any case, n 1853 he put hs fnancal affas n the hands of hs bothe and left New Yok fo a tp to Euope. Appaently he aved n Pas wth such a stong dstaste fo ocean tavel that he decded to eman n Euope, makng Pas hs headquates fo the est of hs lfe. n fact he seldom left that cty fo the next thty-two yeas. Even the two seges dung the Fanco-Pussan Wa (870-87) faled to dslodge hm fom hs snuggey on the Rue de Bousault. Although he had an ample ncome he lved n a vey smple manne n ode to gve away money to the poo. Clemenceau, who was Mayo of Montmate n 870, sad that evey week dung the sege Huntngton would vst hm, bngng money to eleve the suffeng of the poo o to be used n the best nteest of Fance, equestng only that hs name as dono should be kept absolutely secet. Fo some twenty yeas Huntngton's sole occupaton was that of Pas coespondent of the New Yok 22

9 - ^^^'Q^^^n y - f --,,55-?1'~ au. tlp^ m- f-~ -----' - '' < >% ''' ^ ^.w - lo? /~ A ge -L ^ --- <-- Y^ < / w,< /- 7 ~_,' /,'~ 77<a>7 J4j /v Z4 G^ ^ A.., Q. ^^-^^ ',- -^ 4 -.,~ ',,, jt... / ^^^ ^. ^ ',, ' '-^ ~ /2,',,. Y tf. ol-' o _ 2~ - s4, z'<9 +7 A-;,-e7 $H7, * 5 ^ -^ ^ ^./-^ C^. 785 a yezas, ' ;ng?--z, ^%^^,. ^^,^ `)' /; pe o Lettefom Fankln to D. and Ms. ohn Bad, wtten fe hs etunf,.~nw~~c2, ' ' 'p,/:2 Lettefom Fankln to D. and Ms. John Bad, wtten n 785 afte hs etun fom Pas, whee he was Unted States epesentatvefo nne yeas, some of them spent negotatng peace wth Btan. Two weeks pesdent of of Pennsylvana. Gft o befoe ths lette he had been elected pesdent of the Executve Councl of Pennsylvana. Gft of John Bad,

10 Tbune, a poston fo whch hs lteay abltes, hs wde knowledge of Fench hstoy, and hs sympathy wth the people of Fance made hm one of the best foegn coespondents then wokng fo the Amecan pess. n the long, easygong ntevals between wtng hs newslette fo the Tbune he occuped hs tme bowsng though the bookstalls collectng mementos of Fankln. n ths happy pusut he gadually flled hs apatment wth a museum of Amecan hstoy. He was blessed wth a genus fo fendshp, and fom 1853 to 885 evey Amecan vsto to Pas made a pont of callng upon hm. Some of these vstos thought hm a bt stange, snce he had no nteest whateve n the dongs of socety and pefeed to fnd hs fends among atsts, wtes, and students. One of Huntngton's geatest fends was John Bgelow, who, as Amecan Consul n Pas dung the Cvl Wa, and as an agent of Sewad's, bought the Fench pess aound to the sde of the Noth and pevented Napoleon fom gvng ad to the South. Bgelow was also nteested n Fankln, doubtless because he was n Fance wth somewhat the same pupose that Fankln had had dung the Amecan Revoluton. t was though Bgelow that Huntngton expeenced the most memoable day n hs lfe as a collecto of Fanklnana. Bgelow beleved that the "lost" ognal autogaph manuscpt of Fankln's faous autobogaphy was lyng hdden somewhee n Fance and could be found. Shotly afte Bgelow left Fance the manuscpt was dscoveed, and Bgelow commssoned Huntngton to examne t and buy t fo hm. Huntngton's lettes to Bgelow, whch have been peseved, contan an amusng account of the tansacton by whch ths mpotant Amecan hstocal document was etuned to the Unted States (t s now n the Heny E. Huntngton Lbay n San Mano, Calfona). Ths manuscpt was the bass fo the fst accuately evsed and coected edton of Fankln's Autobogaphy, ssued by Bgelow n 868. Though M. Huntngton would seem to hold only a modest place n hstoy as a Pas coe- spondent of the New Yok Tbune, as a collecto of fends and of Amecana, and as a geneous phlanthopst, he does have one unque clam to fame that has not been well emembeed, whle hs othe vtues have been, to say the least, somewhat muted by the passage of tme. He s, we beleve, the fst Amecan who, n spte of Bllat-Savan and a long tumphant tadton of goumets n Fance, had the couage to ntoduce n Pas a long lst of Yankee delcaces by settng up a small bakey and estauant whee homesck membes of the Amecan colony could buy plan Boston baked beans, pumpkn pes, maple syup, and all the smple "fxns" Amecans long fo afte a polonged det of Fench cookng. Though the Huntngton collecton has, wth the passage of some eghty yeas, suffeed now and then the athe sevee ctcsms of dsapponted connosseus t emans, heteogeneous as t may appea to at-loves o to seekes of ae and expensve collecto's tems, an ealy mlestone n the now well-tampled feld of Amecana. t must be one of the fst collectons of ts knd, and cetanly t s one of the few collectons of ts sze that have been peseved moe o less ntact. t epesents a md-nneteenth-centuy atttude towads the Amecan past, a pehaps now unfashonable Calylean appoach to hstoy by heo-woshp, an appoach of antque smplcty and enthusasm unclouded by eco- nomc, psychologcal, o factonal connotatons. Though the mass of mno teasues n the Huntngton collecton have, taken one by one, lttle atstc sgnfcance, togethe they have a meanng of mpotance. By the vey fact of the nexpensve quantty, by the duplcaton and epetton, they demonstate-sometmes n touchng ways-how vey geat a man Fankln was and what a temendous and pemanent mpesson hs pesonalty made upon hs wold and ous. They supply the best evdence of that gand nvsble monument of lvely enthusasm and admaton eected to hs memoy n the mnds of men. The Huntngton collecton affods a emnde of Fankln the man, whose faults and vtues add up to VR. 24