At A Glance
Originally sited at the exterior northeast corner of the Public Ledger Building
A tribute to Franklin’s activities as a journalist and a statesman
Artist Joseph Bailly was originally trained as a furniture wood carver
Joseph A. Bailly’s stone and marble Benjamin Franklin was originally sited at the exterior northeast corner of the Public Ledger Building, watching over the State House – a tribute to Franklin’s activities as a journalist and a statesman. In 1978, the sculpture was moved to the interior of the Public Ledger Building where it stands today. Bailly settled in Philadelphia in 1850 and taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Trained as a furniture wood carver with studies at the French Institute, he sculpted the marble George Washington in Philadelphia City Hall’s Conversation Hall, as well as the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon at the Fairmount Park Horticulture Center.
Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).
