Emilio Zocchi

Overall the marble is in very good condition with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. There is a slightly visible restored vein to the head. There is minor veining to the marble, consistent with the material, including yellowish/ orange veining, and a vein running through the projecting leg of the stool. There is orange discolouration to the area around the signature, and some dirt residues here. There appears to be minor restoration to the proper right thumb and tweezers. There are white paint residues around the edges of the base. The column is in excellent condition with minor abrasions to the top.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Emilio Zocchi’s marble statue of The Young Benjamin Franklin won a gold medal when it was exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876. The statue was clearly designed to appeal to an American market and particularly to the city of Philadelphia, which Franklin had adopted as his own. It was not the first model by Zocchi aimed at American patrons. The artist had made a statue of The Young Christopher Columbus in 1864. Zocchi’s Franklin belonged to a series of heroes depicted as children. The best-known example is his exceptionally popular Young Michelangelo, known in over a hundred examples. The primary version of that model was acquired by King Vittorio Emanuele II and is now in the collection of the Pitti Palace, Florence.

Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States and a famous polymath, began his career at the age of twelve as apprentice to his brother, a printer in Boston. The rôle did not allow scope for his ambitions and he ran away to Philadelphia, then the leading city of the colonies. It was there that he made his fortune – as a newspaper publisher. Despite Franklin’s many achievements as a statesman, diplomat, scientist and inventor he always remembered his beginnings and continued to sign himself as ‘B. Franklin, Printer.’ Franklin’s formal education ended at the age of ten and he thereafter informed himself by reading. Zocchi shows him as a boy seated on a pile of books. Much of Franklin’s life was devoted to spreading knowledge through the printed word. He created the first newspaper chain across North America and conceived the Library Company of Philadelphia. Zocchi’s young Franklin carefully lifts a letter with a pair of tweezers and places it onto the board to disseminate the hand-written word from the papers in his left hand.

RELATED LITERATURE
A. Panzetta, Nuovo dizionario degli scultori italiani, Turin, 2003, vol. II, p. 993; V. Vicario, Gli scultori italiani dal neoclassicismo al liberty, Lodi, 1994, vol. II, pp. 1143-1144