Existing comment:
Department of the Post Office Building:
William Zorach posed in his studio with a half-scale plaster cast of his model of Benjamin Franklin. He is seen working with a rasp to refine the surfaces of the plaster. To the left is a plaster reproduction of Jean-Antoine Houdon's 1778 life-portrait bust of Franklin upon which Zorach based the likeness in his statue; this was a common practice among sculptors for historical portraits. |