J. B. Loir
Medium
mezzotint and engraving in black on wove paper mounted to brown wove paper
Dimensions
image (irregular): 5.56 × 5.56 cm (2 3/16 × 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
2015.19.1584.14.13
Art Historical Context
In 1800, French artist Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mé created *J. B. Loir*, a delicate profile portrait print capturing the likeness of its namesake subject. Saint-Mémin, who fled the French Revolution and settled in America, became renowned for his, small-scale engravings of prominent figures from politics, society, and the arts This intimate work, measuring just over 2 inches square, exemplifies his style—elegant silhouettes that offered affordable, reproducible likenesses in an era before photography. Crafted in mezzotint and engraving on wove paper, then mounted on brown wove...
About the Artist
Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin
**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...