PORTRAITS OF DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS ENGRAVED BY JULIEN FEVRET DE SAINT-MÉMIN 1770 - 1852 [box title]

Saint-Mémin, Charles B.J.F. de

Published by [Various places, including Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, & Washington, D.C., 1809

Forty-four engravings. All engraved images except one are circular, with a diameter of approximately 2 1/4 inches; the engraving of William Bradford is oval and approximately 3 x 2 1/2 inches. Each image is printed on a slightly larger sheet of paper, mounted to 8 1/2 x 11-inch leaves and matted. 20th-century red morocco hinged pull-off case, cover stamped and lettered in gilt. Case lightly worn at edges and front hinge neatly separated, else fine. Most portraits identified in upper left corner of matting in modern ink; some misidentified, most of which have notes with correct identification attached. Minor foxing and/or wear to a few portraits. Small pink stain in lower margin of Frances Cadwalader Erskine portrait, not affecting image. Most portraits in fine or near fine condition. An extraordinary collection of neoclassical profile portraits drawn and engraved by famed French-American portraitist Charles B.J.F. de Saint-Mémin. Forty-one prominent Americans of the Federal period are represented (there are several duplicates, see below), including such major figures as George Clinton, William Bradford, Col. William Duane, and Thomas Jefferson, who sat for the artist in 1804. All but one of the portraits are executed in Saint-Mémin's characteristic profile view and framed in a roundel. The single exception is Saint-Mémin's unusual oval-shaped engraving of Charles Willson Peale's front-view portrait of William Bradford. All of the engravings are matted and contained in a gilt morocco case. Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint- Mémin was a young, aristocratic military officer when he fled France during the Revolution in 1790. In 1793 he arrived in New York with his father and soon began pursuing a career in the arts. Applying early training he had received in drawing and an eye for precision, Saint-Mémin quickly taught himself the techniques of engraving and printing, and began producing plans and landscapes of New York. In 1796 he co- founded a business creating profile portraits with the aid of a physiognotrace, a recently invented drafting device that allowed portraitists to capture their sitters' profiles with extreme accuracy. After tracing a subject's profile with the physiognotrace, Saint-Mémin would complete a portrait in chalk, reduce and copy it to a copper plate using a pantograph, and finally engrave the plate and produce a series of prints. Each patron would receive the original drawing, the plate, and, typically, a dozen engravings. Saint-Mémin's business was wildly successful, and for fourteen years it sustained him as he traveled through the eastern U.S. capturing the likenesses of many leading American figures of the day. Ellen G. Miles' extensive work on Saint-Mémin, published by the National Portrait Gallery, describes every aspect of his career and lists nearly a thousand of his known portraits. The portraits in the present collection are as follows, listed with Miles' catalogue number accompanying each sitter's name: William Barton (42), William Bradford (78), Claude Amable Brasier (81), Jacob Burnet (111), Martha Round Caldwell (127), Mary M. Caldwell (128), George Clinton (174), John Coles III (189), Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn (230), Asbury Dickins (268), William Drayton (275), William Duane (277; two prints: 1802 and after 1808 [with caption, "Col. Wm. Duane"]), Louisa DuPonceau (288), Peter Stephen DuPonceau (289), Catherine M. Dutilh (291), Stephen (Étienne) Dutilh (294), David Montagu Erskine (306), Frances Cadwalader Erskine (307), Walter Franklin (334), Theodore Hunt (429), Thomas Jefferson (446), John Lincklaen (510), James McHenry (539), Neil MacNeal (547), John Mayo II (568), Maria Sophia Kemper Morton (595), Joseph Hopper Nicholson (619), Davis Old (627), Thomas Parke (642), Nathan Read (686), John Reynolds (691), Thomas Bolling Robertson (701), Charles Sterett (788; three copies), St. George Tucker (840), Waggaman (911), Samuel Purviance Walker (915), William Augustine Washington III. Seller Inventory # WRCAM36840

Bibliographic Details

Title: PORTRAITS OF DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS ...
Publisher: [Various places, including Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, & Washington, D.C.
Publication Date: 1809