Homage to Benjamin Franklin 1790s

C.A. Lorentzen painted this homage to Benjamin Franklin, though its precise date remains unknown. The painting presents a scene ripe with symbolic significance, dominated by the classical figure of Minerva, goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, standing guard over the scene. But look closer. A Black man kneels to offer Franklin a laurel wreath, a symbol that dates back to ancient Greece and signifies triumph and honor. Yet, the complexities of the scene are impossible to ignore: a man in bondage bestowing the laurel wreath. This potent image connects to classical art, where similar gestures were commonplace, yet it also clashes against the backdrop of the Enlightenment and its contradictions regarding liberty and slavery. The offering of the wreath, a recurring motif in Roman art, has been twisted here, imbued with new meaning. A collective memory laden with paradoxes. It reflects how symbols persist, evolve, and sometimes starkly contradict the values they are meant to uphold.