Mr. Smith

Art Historical Context

**Mr. Smith** (1801) is a striking profile portrait by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de-Mémin, a engraver who fled the Revolution and settled in America. Active in Philadelphia and New York during the early republic, Saint-Mémin the likenesses of prominent figures, including politicians and merchants, helping to define early American portraiture. This print, from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection (gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon), exemplifies his role in documenting the nation's emerging elite at the dawn of the 19th century. Saint-Mémin pioneered the physionotrace technique...