Page:The True Benjamin Franklin.djvu/41

 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS very shrewd. The eyes are larger than in the later portraits, which is not surprising, for eyes are apt to grow smaller in appearance with age. This portrait, which is now in Memorial Hall at Harvard University, has been supposed by some critics not to be a portrait of Franklin at all. How, they ask, could Franklin, who was barely able to earn his living at that time, and whose companions were borrowing a large part of his spare money, afford to have an oil-painting made of himself in such expensive costume ? and why is there no men- tion of this portrait in any of his writings ? But, on the other hand, the portrait has the peculiar set ex- pression of the mouth and the long chin which were so characteristic of Franklin ; and it would have been entirely possible for him to have borrowed the clothes and had the picture painted cheaply or as a kind- ness. It is not well painted, need not have been expensive, and, as there were no photographs then, paintings were the only way by which people could give their likenesses to relatives. The Martin portrait, painted when he was about sixty years old, represents him seated, his elbows resting on a table, and holding a document, which he is reading with deep but composed and serene attention. It was no doubt intended to represent him in a characteristic attitude. As showing the calm philosopher and diplomat reading and think- ing, somewhat idealized and yet a more or less true likeness, it is in many respects the best picture we have of him. But we cannot see the eyes, and it does not reveal as much character as we could wish. 31