Jean-Antoine and Ben
Philadelphia.
Until July 31, in its European Galleries, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will present 'Pursuit of Genius: Jean-Antoine Houdon and the Sculpted Portraits of Benjamin Franklin,' an exhibition of about 30 Houdon works.
The exhibit focuses on the museum's own marble bust of Benjamin Franklin.
I was introduced to Houdon when, as a child, I spotted the copy of his George Washington statute in Traflagar Square. Later, many years later, I bumped into the original, quite by accident, in the rotunda of the Virginia statehouse in Richmond.
-- Richard Carreño