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.74.39.7.8
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the early days of the American republic with *M. A. Meschert*, a striking 1800 print by French-born artist Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saintémin (1770–1852). Capturing the profile of its male subject, this portrait exemplifies Saint-Mémin's innovative work after emigrating to Philadelphia in 1793 amid the French Revolution. There, he documented the faces of America's emerging elite, blending European finesse with New World ambition. Saint-Mémin pioneered the physiognotrace, a mechanical tracing device that produced precise profile silhouettes, which he then engraved onto copp...