Evans Benjamin Beale (1 results)

An uncommon early engraved portrait of Founding Father John Jay (1745-1829), after an original portrait by Pierre Eugène du Simitière. The image shows Jay in profile from the torso up, and is delicately colored in shades of blue and rose. John Jay drafted the New York State Constitution in 1777, and for two years was the Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court. This 1779 portrait of Jay was drawn by du Simitière in Philadelphia, just when Jay had completed his term as sixth President of the Continental Congress (December 1778 September 1779), and had just been appointed the United States Minister to Spain, a difficult assignment for Jay since the Spanish Court refused to officially receive Jay at the court. Still, Jay was able to negotiate a loan from Spain to the Confederation Government. Following the revolution, Jay co-authored the Federalist Papers, was appointed the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, negotiated the 1794 Jay treaty with Great Britain, and served as governor of New York before retiring in 1801. Pierre Eugène du Simitière (1737-1784) was born in Geneva, Switzerland and in 1766 permanently settled in Philadelphia. He was a naturalist, an American patriot, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and in 1776 served as an artistic consultant to the committee of Congress tasked with designing the Great Seal, submitting the first proposed design to include the Eye of Providence, and suggested the adoption of the U.S. motto, E pluribus unum. Because of his close association with American patriots and the Continental Congress, in 1779, du Simitière was able to have a number of leaders of the Revolutionary government sit for portraits, including John Jay, George Washington, Baron von Steuben, Silas Deane, Joseph Reed, Gouverneur Morris, Horatio Gates, William Henry Drayton, Henry Laurens, Jr., Charles Thomson, Samuel Huntington, John Dickinson, and Benedict Arnold. Du Simitière's portraits of the American leaders "were sent to Paris through the French Ambassador and were engraved there first by Benoit Louis Prevost in 1781.[and] were [initially] issued under the title of 'Collection des Portraits des Generaux, Ministres & Magistrats.'.The first British engraving of the set was by Burnett Reading and was published by Richardson on May 10, 1783. Another issue of the portraits [was published] on May 15, 1783, by Wilkinson and signed 'B.B.E.' [Benjamin Beale Evans] [oriented] in reverse of the French originals" Donnell. It should be mentioned that the Wilkinson production was a quarto titled "Portraits of the generals, ministers, magistrates, members of Congress, and others, who have rendered themselves illustrious in the Revolution of the United States of America," and Wilkinson issued smaller individual prints of the portraits. Little is known about Benjamin Beale Evans (ca. 1765-1824), other than that he was a British print seller and engraver who was apprenticed to John Boydell between 1779 and 1786, and then set up on his own. This individual engraved portrait of thirty-four-year-old founding father John Jay during the height of his involvement in the revolutionary cause is quite uncommon with only two auction records, the most recent being nearly 130 years ago. OCLC locates only four copies at the Library of Congress, the Massachusetts Historical Society, Yale, and the University of Michigan. There is also a copy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. CRESSWELL 131. Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection 24.90.702(8). L.H. Butterfield, Adams Family Correspondence Vol. I, 1761-1776 (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press), p.x. Edna Donnell, "Portraits of Eminent Americans After Drawings by Du Simitiere" in Antiques, Vol. 24, No. 1 (July 1933), p.17. OCLC 53823404, 1303394445, 726828722. Light soiling to the margins, otherwise clean and bright with rich tonality. Near fine.