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.74.39.10.14
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1800, French-born artist Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mé captured the profile of Nathan Read, a Massachusetts inventor and statesman, in this striking print. Saint-Mémin, who fled the French Revolution and settled in America, became renowned for his precise portraiture during the early republic. Working in cities like Philadelphia and New York, he produced of these intimate likenesses, documenting the nation's emerging leaders and innovators. This portrait exemplifies Saint-Mémin's signatureognotrace technique—a device that traced silhouettes with mathematical accuracy, later e...