[1] It depicts American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin conducting his kite experiment in 1752 to ascertain the electrical nature of lighting.

Franklin's experiment, in its initial conception, depended on the completion of Christ Church in Philadelphia, whose steeples would be sufficiently high as to attract a lightning strike.

Franklin then conceived of an alternative experiment that involved flying a kite during a thunderstorm with a metal key attached to the string.

Franklin demonstrated that the clouds carried an electrical charge by bringing a finger near the metal key, producing a spark.

West amplifies this effect by clearly defining the edges of the key and making the surrounding electricity more pronounced than the lighting in the distance.

Franklin was in his forties and with his son when he conducted the experiment, but West paints him with white hair and wrinkly as an elderly man.

West adds cherubs and other dramatic elements to depict Franklin as Prometheus-like figure, who stands as an American hero of scientific discovery.

[1] In 1965 the United States selected this painting to be featured on their memorial postage stamp commemorating the 250 anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birth.