Ben Franklin Makes A Point
“He snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants”
This Ben Franklin replica sculpture at Library Hall, 5th Street across from Independence Hall, shows the scepter pointing down — where Franklin felt monarchies were headed. Photo by Jim Murphy, author of Real Philly History, Real Fast.
Crowds of people walking near Independence Hall on S. 5th Street pass by this statue of Ben Franklin every day. And most of them miss its key message.
Franklin, dressed in a toga like an ancient Roman, stands with his right elbow resting on a pile of books — with a scepter, the symbol of a king’s power — pointed downward. This was Franklin’s way of saying republics were rising, and kings were trending downward.
Knowing Franklin’s reputation for experimenting with electricity, inventing the lightning rod and encouraging revolution against George III of England, Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot once said: “He snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants.”
To me, that quote sums up this remarkable inventor and leader perfectly. Franklin, however, felt it gave him too much credit.
(Because I was curious, I checked, and learned that Turgot, a French economist and statesman, was a man. Evidently, the name Anne — meaning “eagle” — was commonly used for men in some European countries. I didn’t know that before.)
Kings and queens haven’t gone away
Even today, though, out of 195 countries in the world, 44 are still ruled by kings. But few have the power the European monarchs did before the Revolutionary War.
Shortly before Franklin died, wealthy Philadelphian William Bingham asked him to pose for a statue. Franklin did, and the marble figure pictured below was the result. Francesco Lazzarini completed the work in 1791. Franklin was honored as founder of the Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) and the nation’s “first librarian.”
In 1880, after the LCP sold its 5th Street building and moved to Juniper and Locust Street, the original Ben Franklin statue was also moved to the new location. The LCP relocated a final time to 1314 Locust Street in 1966. The reproduction above was made about 1958.
Interesting Oddities
The marble statue of Franklin, a gift from Philadelphia’s William Bingham, is said to be Philadelphia’s “first public art.”
The American Philosophical Society (APS) and the Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP), both founded by Ben Franklin, each wanted to build larger quarters on the eastern side of Independence Square. APS won out and the Library Company eventually moved to Juniper and Locust Street.
In its early years, LCP rented space at the Pennsylvania State House (later known as Independence Hall) and at Carpenters’ Hall.
Writer Ken Finkel in one of my favorite reads, “The PhillyHistory Blog,” says some of Ben’s statue injuries were caused by more than deterioration. Students from Episcopal Academy, which was directly across from the new LCP building, claimed they targeted the statue with slingshots from the school’s fourth floor balcony and damaged it.
The LCP expected to receive Franklin’s library after his death. Surprisingly, he left most of it to family members; his grandson, William Temple Franklin, sold off the library in pieces. What a shame.
Battered Ben: This is Francesco Lazzarini’s marble sculpture, ca. 1729, commissioned by William Bingham for the Library’s Company first building. Courtesy of Library Company of Philadelphia. Note the broken arms and missing scepter and scroll that appear in the reproduction at the top of this story.
How the statue appeared in 1912.
Upper part of the Library Company of Philadelphia Building, Statue of Franklin, Locust and Juniper Streets, Philadelphia, (1912). Photo courtesy of New York State Archives. Education Dept. Division of Visual Instruction. Instructional lantern slides, ca. 1856–1939. Series A3045–78, No. 1110.
FAST FACTS
Location of Statue Replica: Library Hall, 105 S. 5th Street, Phila.
Original Sculptor: Francesco Lazzarini
Year Statute Commissioned: 1789
Year Original Statue Was Created: 1791
Material: Carrara marble
Donor: William Bingham
Where Original Status Is Now: Inside the foyer of the Library Company of Philadelphia’s Ridgway Building, 1314 Locust Street, safe from damage (and slingshots) and still visible from the street.
Some Sources:
https://blog.phillyhistory.org/index.php/2012/04/poor-richard-in-a-roman-toga/
https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/digitool%3A59424
https://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/attachments/Van%20Horne.pdf
https://www.associationforpublicart.org/artwork/benjamin-franklin-3/
https://www.episcopalacademy.org/about-ea/history
https://www.google.com/books/edition/This_Is_What_a_Librarian_Looks_Like/Eh_6DAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Did+Episcopal+Academy+students+knock+off+part+of+Ben+Franklin+statue+at+LIbrary+Company+of+Philadelphia&pg=PT52&printsec=frontcover
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/library-company-of-philadelphia/
https://www.philamuseum.org/collection/object/50130
https://phillyghosts.com/the-american-philosophical-library/
https://www.theconstitutional.com/blog/2018/08/10/library-hall-library-company-philadelphia
Van Horne, John C. “Two Chips off the Same Block: Benjamin Franklin’s Library Company and Philosophical Society and the Saga of Their 275-Year Relationship.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 162, no. 4 (2018): 361–86. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45211604.