Nathan Read: profile portrait, captioned “Drawn & engrd by St. Memin Philadel.”.
Philadelphia: Ca. 1800.
Price: $650.00
About the item
1 vols. Circular image 2-1/4 inches diameter, on light card stock 7-3/4 x 5 inches overall. Fine condition. Groce and Wallace, Dictionary of Artists in America, p. 555.
Item #17786
Read was an inventor who patented various designs for a steamboat, became a iron manufacturer, and served two terms in Congress, the first commencing in 1800, the approximate date of this engraving. Saint-Mémin (1770-1852) emigrated to the U.S. with his family at the outbreak of the French Revolution, and became an artist, turning to the “lucrative branch of portraiture. With the aid of a physionotrace he took accurate profiles, many of which he reduced to minature size and engraved himself.” (Groce and Wallace). He worked in various cities, including Philadelphia (ca. 1798 to 1804), where this rare and elegant portrait was done.
