William Penn (1774)

by John Cheere (1709 - 1787)

Photo Caption: Photo Jennifer Richards for the Association for Public Art
  • Title

    William Penn

  • Artist

    John Cheere (1709 - 1787)

  • Year

    1774; installed 1804

  • Location

    Pennsylvania Hospital, Pine Street Garden, Pine Street between 8th and 9th Streets

  • Medium

    Lead, on marble base

  • Dimensions

    Height 6′7", width 2'6" (base height 3’6″, width 3'6", depth 3'6")

  • Themes

    Presidents and Leaders

Gift of John Penn to Pennsylvania Hospital

Owned by Pennsylvania Hospital

At A Glance

  • Originally designed to be placed on top of a house with head facing downward

  • John Penn, grandson of William Penn, came upon the work in a junk shop in London and purchased it

  • The sculpture no doubt influenced Alexander Milne Calder in the planning of his figure for City Hall

Following a visit to Lord Le Despencer’s estate in Buckinghamshire, England, Benjamin Franklin wrote that his friend “has lately erected at Wycombe … a noble statue of William Penn holding in his hand a scroll.” When Lord Le Despencer’s successor redesigned the grounds of West Wycombe, he sold the statue for old metal.

John Penn, grandson of William Penn, came upon the work in a junk shop in London and purchased it for his house at Stoke Poges. Later he presented it to Pennsylvania Hospital, and it arrived in Philadelphia in 1804. Originally designed to be placed on top of a house with head facing downward, it no doubt influenced Alexander Milne Calder in the planning of his figure for City Hall.

Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).

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