John Craig Wells
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.74.39.4.9
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the early American Republic with *John Craig Wells* (1799), a striking profile portrait print by Charles Balthazar Julien Fret de Saint-Mé. This French émigré artist, who fled the Revolution to settle in Philadelphia, captured the likeness of Wells, a prominent lawyer, using his innovative physionotrace—a mechanical device that traced profiles with precision before engraving them as elegant stipple prints. These small, often hand-colored works were the Instagram of their day, affordable and shareable among the elite. Created at the dawn of the 19th century, the portrait reflects a y...