"Art is long, and ... Time is short": Benjamin Franklin's views on the visual arts.(Biography)

From: The Magazine Antiques | Date: November 1, 2006| Author: Clemmer, Melissa | Copyright information

Visual art would probably not make the shortlist of Benjamin Franklin's preoccupations, and he would not likely have considered himself a connoisseur, scholar, or practitioner of fine art in the traditional sense. However in the tens of thousands of letters he exchanged with some 650 correspondents from all walks of life, art-related terminology--such as busto, clay, copperplate, drawing, engraver, etching, likeness, limner, metzotinto, miniature, picture, shade, wax, and the like-...

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