This portrait bust of Benjamin Franklin reproduces an original by Neoclassical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. Franklin was influential in France for introducing democratic principles during the Age of Enlightenment. American Ben Franklin was an inventor, publicist, philosopher, and one of the United States greatest forefathers, which makes him perfect for your library or study. Engravings and decorated plates, miniatures in clay, porcelain, and plaster, almost mass-produced, made his likeness known to an eager and sympathetic public.