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): 6.67 × 6.19 cm (2 5/8 × 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
2015.19.1584.47.3
Art Historical Context
**Knox** (1809) by Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin is a delicate profile portrait print capturing the likeness of Henry Knox, the esteemed American Revolutionary War general and nation's first Secretary of War. in the early years of the 19th, this work reflects Saint-Mé's specialty as a French émigré artist in America, renowned for his precise, silhouette-like profiles of prominent figures. These small-scale engravings were highly popular, serving as affordable mementos of the new republic's heroes amid a burgeoning national identity. Rendered in mezzotint and engraving on wove paper—then...
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...