Benjamin West · c. 1805
Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky
Posters from $15.00 CAD · Canvas from $39.00 CAD
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Benjamin Franklin in a dark coat and red cloak raises a key on a kite string into a stormy sky while cherubs help with the kite, and electrical apparatus stands at his feet. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Up to 16 × 21.8 in · portrait
Size
Larger sizes are unavailable for this painting because the source scan's resolution wouldn't print at gallery quality.
Format & finish
Archival cotton canvas stretched over a wooden frame. Ready to hang as-is. No external frame.
Scale next to a 5'10" person
+ tax at checkout
Materials & quality
›Canvas & inks
Giclée-printed on archival cotton canvas with fade-resistant pigment inks, hand-stretched over wooden bars. Gallery-wrapped — ready to hang with no extra frame needed.
›Floater frame
Hand-finished solid wood floater frame in five finishes. The canvas sits inside with a clean shadow gap — the way galleries hang contemporary canvas.
›Posters
Premium archival paper — 200 gsm soft matte or 230 gsm vibrant glossy. Ships flat or rolled, ready for your own frame.
›Faithful to the source
Printed from the highest-resolution museum and archive scans available. Each painting's maximum size is capped at what its source scan can support at gallery quality.
The story of Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky
West painted this small work, 33.7 x 25.4 cm, in oil on slate, c. 1805. It shows Franklin's 1752 kite experiment, with cherubs, one dressed in Native American attire, assisting him. Franklin knew West, which influenced the creation of the painting.
Adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Benjamin West
Benjamin West was an American-born British painter who specialised in history painting, creating such works as The Death of Nelson, The Death of General Wolfe, the Treaty of Paris, and Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky.
All Benjamin West prints →Biography adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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