Jean Charles Le Vasseur — Antoine Borel, after | L'Amérique Indépendante, a rare allegorical engraving

Jean Charles Le Vasseur — Antoine Borel, after

L'Amérique Indépendante, Dédiée au Congrès des Etats unis de l'Amérique. Paris: Ches l'Auteur rue Boucherat au coin de la rue Xaintonge, 1778

Allegorical line engraving (502 x 376 mm). Soiled and lightly toned, dampstained at lower margin, several closed tears extending into the plate neatly repaired, restoration to margins, pencil markings.

A rare symbolic representation of the American Revolution as it was seen from France.

The engraving features ten figures including Franklin, who stands centrally in a Roman toga, crowned with oak leaves. Among them, a kneeling indigenous woman represents America and embraces a pedestal upon which stands Liberty; Minerva protects Franklin from above as Prudence overlooks his shoulder; Courage batters Britain and Neptune with a club; and Commerce and Agriculture watch from the sidelines. While Franklin apparently sat for the work, he decided not to accept its dedication; instead, he requested that it be dedicated to Congress.

Below the image is a seal similar to that of the Continental eight-dollar bill: a harp with the motto, "Majora minoribus consonat," or "the great are in harmony with the smaller," surrounded by a chain of thirteen links labeled with the names of the colonies (Sellers).

REFERENCES

Carson 1764; Halsey i.146; Sellers, Benjamin Franklin in Portraiture, pp. 120–121, 194–197