David Thomas
Medium
mezzotint and engraving in black on wove paper mounted to brown wove paper
Dimensions
image (irregular): 5.72 × 5.56 cm (2 1/4 × 2 3/16 in.) sheet (trimmed to plate): 6.83 × 6.19 cm (2 11/16 × 2 7/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of William Wilson Corcoran)
Accession Number
2015.19.1584.38.1
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
This intimate portrait of David Thomas, created in 1807 by French-born artist Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin, captures the refined taste for small-scale prints in early American society. Working in the United States after the French Revolution, Saint-Mémin specialized in profile likenesses that appealed to a growing middle class eager for affordable yet elegant representations of themselves and their contemporaries. The resulting print, measuring just over two inches across, exemplifies the personal scale of such works, likely intended for private albums or keepsakes rather than public display. The medium of mezzotint combined with engraving allowed Saint-Mémin to achieve rich tonal depths and crisp details on wove paper, techniques that lent a painterly quality to the otherwise linear printmaking process. Mounted on a secondary sheet, the work’s careful presentation underscores its value as both a likeness and an object of craftsmanship. Today housed in the National Gallery of Art’s Corcoran Collection, the print offers a window into the transatlantic exchange of artistic methods and the democratic spirit of portraiture in the young republic.
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...