Colonel Arnold. [Benedict Arnold]

Dateca. 1776

Engraver Johann Lorenz Rugendas (1730 - 1799)

Publisher Johann Lorenz Rugendas (1730 - 1799)

OriginEurope, Germany, Augsburg

MediumMezzotint on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 18 1/4 × 12 1/4in. (46.4 × 31.1cm) Other (Plate): 13 1/2 × 8 7/8in. (34.3 × 22.5cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1976-25

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "Colonel Arnold./ Who Commanded the Provincial Troops sent against QUEBEC, through the Wilderness/ of Canada and was Woundet in Storming that City, under General Montgomery./ Joh. Lorenz Rugendas Sculps. et excudit Aug. Vind."
Label TextThis print of Benedict Arnold is one of the most famous depictions of the leader despite the fact that he never sat for it. The colonel, and later defector, stands with one hand on his breast. The portrait is copied from part a fourteen piece collection of American military leaders during the eighteenth century. The portraits contained in this collection depict several other prominent leaders in America, including two each of George Washington and John Hancock. The print collection was likely published by British printers Robert Sayer and John Bennett under a pseudonym. Since the 1760s, printmakers in Augsburg, Germany created copies of mezzotints imported from British printers, including Sayer and Bennett. The engraver of this print, Johann Lorenz Rugendas I (1730-1799), likely produced a copy of Sayer and Bennett's mezzotint of the colonel and later defector. Augsburg was a center for printing in Germany and the local residents were fascinated with the conflict in America. (1)

See Emily (Amy) Torbert, “Dissolving the Bonds: Robert Sayer and John Bennett, Print Publishers in an Age of Revolution.,” PhD diss. (University of Delaware, 2017), 311-3.
ProvenanceBefore 1976, Sotheby's Park-Bernet (New York, NY); 1976-present, purchased by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).