Benjamin Rush
The leading Philadelphia physician Benjamin Rush appears here facing right, bare-headed, with his hair powdered and tied behind. He wears a ruffled white shirt and dark coat with wide lapels. After creating a physiognotrace drawing of Rush, Saint-Mémin engraved the portrait in 1802, adding mezzotint tone.
Saint-Mémin and his family left France during the French Revolution, traveling first to Switzerland, then arriving in New York in 1793. The family intended to continue on to Saint Dominigue, where Saint-Mémin's creole mother had property, but were persuaded by the unsettled state of that island to remain in New York. To support himself, Saint-Mémin learned how to use a physiognotrace (a drawing device that traces a subject's profile and reduces the image onto a sheet of paper), then created hundreds of profile portraits as he traveled between New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, and Charleston. He also learned to engrave and based prints on many of his drawings. These offer a fascinating record of men and women who lived in the newly established United States. Napoleon's fall from power prompted Saint-Mémin to return to France in 1814 where he was appointed director of the Musée des Beaux Arts at Dijon.
Saint-Mémin and his family left France during the French Revolution, traveling first to Switzerland, then arriving in New York in 1793. The family intended to continue on to Saint Dominigue, where Saint-Mémin's creole mother had property, but were persuaded by the unsettled state of that island to remain in New York. To support himself, Saint-Mémin learned how to use a physiognotrace (a drawing device that traces a subject's profile and reduces the image onto a sheet of paper), then created hundreds of profile portraits as he traveled between New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, and Charleston. He also learned to engrave and based prints on many of his drawings. These offer a fascinating record of men and women who lived in the newly established United States. Napoleon's fall from power prompted Saint-Mémin to return to France in 1814 where he was appointed director of the Musée des Beaux Arts at Dijon.
Artwork Details
- Title: Benjamin Rush
- Artist: Charles B. J. F. de Saint-Mémin (French, Dijon 1770–1852 Dijon)
- Sitter: Benjamin Rush (American, 1745–1813)
- Date: 1802
- Medium: Engraving with mezzotint
- Dimensions: Image diameter: 2 3/16 in. (5.6 cm)
Plate: 2 13/16 × 2 7/8 in. (7.2 × 7.3 cm)
Sheet: 4 7/8 × 3 15/16 in. (12.4 × 10 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of William H. Huntington, 1883
- Object Number: 83.2.457
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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