John Campbell
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
2015.19.1584.34.3
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
This intimate 1806 portrait by Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin captures John Campbell in a compact circular format, measuring just over two inches across. Saint-Mémin, a French émigré artist working in the United States, specialized in profile likenesses that combined scientific precision with artistic refinement. His prints often served as affordable alternatives to painted miniatures, allowing a broader audience to own personal mementos of notable figures during the early years of the American republic. The work employs mezzotint and engraving techniques on wove paper, methods that produce velvety dark tones alongside crisp linear details. Mounted on a secondary sheet, the print’s small scale suggests it may have been intended for inclusion in a portfolio, book, or private collection rather than for public display. Such works highlight the growing importance of reproductive printmaking in disseminating images across the young nation. Now part of the National Gallery of Art’s Corcoran Collection, this piece offers a window into early nineteenth-century American portraiture and the transatlantic artistic exchanges that shaped it.
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...