Artwork
Walter Jones
Walter Jones is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin. It dates from 1805 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower center mount in black ink by unknown hand: Judge Jones.
About this work
Overview
The composition presents Jones in strict profile against a plain background, a format Saint-Mémin favored for his extensive series of physiognotrace portraits.
Created in 1805, this mezzotint and engraving depicts Walter Jones, a prominent American physician and politician. Executed by Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin, the work exemplifies the artist's distinctive neoclassical profile style, which he developed during his exile in the United States. The composition presents Jones in strict profile against a plain background, a format Saint-Mémin favored for his extensive series of physiognotrace portraits.
The image relies on the interplay of mezzotint and engraving to render subtle tonal gradations and precise linear details, capturing the sitter's facial structure and attire with scientific rigor. Mounted on brown wove paper, the print reflects the artist's method of translating his mechanical tracings into reproducible prints for a broad audience. This piece is part of Saint-Mémin's larger corpus of American portraits, which served to document the leading figures of the early republic.
The work stands as a significant example of early American printmaking, bridging European academic traditions with the new nation's desire for visual documentation of its civic leaders.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (French pronunciation: ; 1770–1852) was a French portrait painter and museum director.
