Benjamin Franklin, from the series Great Americans (N76) for Duke brand cigarettes
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (7 × 3.8 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
63.350.204.76.14
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th American advertising with this petite chromolithograph of Benjamin Franklin, part of the "Great Americans (N76)" series produced by W. Duke, Sons & Co. in 1888. Measuring just 2¾ × 1½ inches, this colorful print was designed as an insert for Duke brand cigarette packs, transforming everyday tobacco products into collectible treasures. Franklin, the polymath inventor, statesman, and Founding Father, is rendered in a dignified portrait, embodying the era's admiration for national heroes. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a groundbreaking technique that ...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...