Benjamin West

Art Historical Context

This intimate 1798 portrait print captures Benjamin West, the influential American-born history painter who rose to prominence in London as a founder of the Royal Academy and mentor to a generation of artists. Created by French émigré Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, the work reflects the transatlantic artistic exchanges of the late eighteenth century, when European-trained talents documented leading cultural figures on both sides of the Atlantic. Saint-Mémin specialized in small-scale profile portraits, often produced with the aid of mechanical tracing devices before being finished by hand. Here he combines mezzotint’s rich, velvety tones with precise engraving lines to render West’s features on a delicate scale—barely two inches square—making the print both a personal keepsake and a refined example of early American printmaking. Such works circulated among collectors and institutions, preserving the likenesses of prominent individuals like West for posterity. Now part of the National Gallery of Art’s Corcoran Collection, the print highlights the technical sophistication and cultural significance of portraiture at the turn of the nineteenth century.

About the Artist

Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin · 1770–1852

**Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin** Born on March 12, 1770, in Dijon, France, to marquis Bénigne-Charles Févret de Saint-Mémin, a former conseiller au Parlement de Bourgogne, and Victoire-Marie de Motmans, a creole from Port-au-Prince, Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin received a military education at the École Militaire in Paris, graduating in 1785. He served as a cad...