Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin
1797
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Turner is a 1797 ink by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
You see a man’s face in profile, all soft shadows and gentle curves. Light hits his cheek and forehead in a way that feels real, not stiff. The artist used a printmaking trick called mezzotint to make the darks melt into lights without harsh lines. Saint-Mémin made this in 1797. He etched the plate, then scraped it smooth for those velvety tones. It’s not flashy—just a quiet face that looks like it could breathe. Next time you’re in Washington, check the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (French pronunciation: ; 1770–1852) was a French portrait painter and museum director.
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