Felix Constant de Boisgerard
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
S/NPG.74.39.7.31
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the early 19th-century world of American finance with this striking 1809 print portrait of Felix Constant degerard, a prominent bank director. Created by French-born artist Charles Balthazar Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770–1852), the work captures Boisgerard's dignified profile, emblematic of the rising merchant class in the young United States. Saint-Mémin, who fled the French Revolution and settled in Philadelphia, became renowned for his precise likenesses of America's elite, blending European elegance with New World ambition. Saint-Mémin's innovative technique set this print apart: ...