Nicholas Brice
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
2015.19.1584.26.15
Art Historical Context
Behold *Nicholas Brice*, a delicate 1803 portrait print by Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin, a French émigré artist who revolutionized American portraiture in the early republic. Capturing the sitter's profile in intimate scale—measuring just over 2 inches square—this work exemplifies Saint-Mémin's signature style: precise, physiognomic profiles derived from mechanical tracings, making elite likenesses accessible to a burgeoning middle class. Crafted via mezzotint and engraving on wove paper, the piece showcases mezzotint's velvety tonal gradations for subtle shading, refined by fine engra...
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...