Bus
1800–1883
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H. 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm)
Classification
Bust
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William H. Huntington, 1883
Accession Number
83.2.172
Tags
Art Historical Context
This small bronze sculpture, titled *Bus* and created by Jean Martin Renaud, offers an intimate portrait likely depicting Benjamin Franklin. Standing just under two inches tall, the work exemplifies the delicate scale often used for personal or commemorative pieces. Its presence in the Metropolitan Museum’s American Wing underscores Franklin’s enduring role as a symbol of American ingenuity and diplomacy during the nation’s founding era. Renaud, working in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, specialized in finely modeled bronze portraits that captured both likeness and charact...
About the Artist
Jean Martin Renaud (French) · 1746 –1821
French, Sarreguemines 1746–1821 Paris