The appraised work is possibly a Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) pencil drawing on paper. The work depicts an unfinished bust-length portrait of Benjamin Franklin, whose forlorn gaze directly addresses the viewer. It also appears there are tears streaming down his face. The drawing is signed at lower right in what looks to be a signature consistent with Rockwell’s handwriting, often seen in inscriptions on drawings, prints, and occasionally paintings. The artist famously created a full-length image of Franklin for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1926, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence as well as the statesman’s founding of the Post fifty years prior. Given the unfinished nature of the subject work, it’s possible the drawing was a study for a larger portrait or other composition that never came to fruition.

The estimate provided is based on comparables recently offered and sold at auction. Rockwell pencil drawings regularly come up for sale, at both international and regional houses across the US and abroad. Given the artist’s status as an icon of American art, Rockwell’s drawings tend to sell well overall, usually within or above their high presale estimates. The subject work’s size, compositional complexity, condition, as well as the artist’s current auction market were all taken into consideration when establishing the estimate. In many cases pricing for similar examples available on the primary (retail) market vary, and are often higher than secondary (auction) market examples.