From William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
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AbeBooks Seller since 13 July 2006
About this Item
Aquatint photogravure portrait, 4 x 3 inches, on a 10 x 7 1/4-inch sheet. Fine. A fine aquatint photogravure of Saint-Mémin's famed portrait of Thomas Jefferson, made from one of the original engraved plates. The original was drawn in November 1804, just after Jefferson was elected to his second term as President. Jefferson agreed to sit for the portrait partly at the request of his daughters, and distributed copies of the likeness to his friends. Saint-Mémin's work would go on to serve as the source for several later portraits by other artists, such as Thomas Gimbrede. The portrait shows the sixty-one year old President in profile. "Th. Jefferson" appears below the portrait, and Saint-Memin's name is printed in the lower left corner of the print. Charles Saint-Mémin immigrated to the United States from France in 1793, his family having lost its lands and money in the French Revolution. He taught himself the techniques of engraving and drawing in New York, and in 1796 began making profile portraits with a physiognotrace. Over the next fourteen years he travelled throughout the United States, making profile portraits, both original drawings and in the form of small engravings. The present printing of Jefferson's portrait is undated, but was likely created in 1904 for the sale catalogue of Hampton Carson's collection of Saint-Mémin portraits, or for an unrealized 1910 publication project (using the same portraits once owned by Carson) by William H. Jenks of Philadelphia (see Miles, p.212 for details). The original copperplate is now in the collection of the University of Virginia Library. A fine copy of an important portrait of Thomas Jefferson. Miles, SAINT-MÉMIN (Washington, 1994), pp. 212, 326 and item 446. Bush, THE LIFE PORTRAITS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, pp.51-53 and item 16. Adams, EYE OF JEFFERSON, pp.75, 361, and item 125. Cunningham, IMAGE OF THOMAS JEFFERSON IN THE PUBLIC EYE, pp.79-86. Howard C. Rice, Jr., "Saint-Memin's Portrait of Jefferson," in THE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY CHRONICLE, Volume XX, Number 4 (Summer 1959), pp.182-192. Seller Inventory # WRCAM41408
Bibliographic Details
Title: [PROFILE PORTRAIT OF THOMAS JEFFERSON]
Publisher: [N.p.
Publication Date: 1910
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