Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011281Portraits of Georges Arnold Fitzwilliam and Portrait of Eleanor Ramsay Fitzwilliam; a pair
About the Artwork
This pair of portraits depict George Fitzwilliam, an English merchant, and his American wife Eleanor Ramsay Fitzwilliam, who sat in New York for the French émigré artist Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin. Saint-Mémin used a recently invented mechanical device called a physiognotrace to trace accurate profiles of his sitters, which he then completed in black and white chalks. The technology enabled Saint-Mémin to establish a thriving business catering to prominent Americans—including Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and several Native American chiefs—at a time when he was in exile from the French Revolution. As part of each commission, Saint-Mémin also supplied etchings of the portrait in a reduced size, which could be given as keepsakes to family and friends.
Provenance
?–2024: (Marty de Cambiaire Master Paintings & Drawings, New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH June 3, 2024–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Mémin (French, 1770–1852)
- Date
- c. 1790–1852
- Medium
- Black and white chalk on buff paper with pink wash in original frames
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Alma Kroeger Fund
- Accession no.
- 2024.35
More by Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Mémin in museum collections
Portrait of Georges Arnold Fitzwilliam
Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Méminc. 1790–1852 · Drawing
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011309
Portrait of Eleanor Ramsay Fitzwilliam
Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Méminc. 1790–1852 · Drawing
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011310
Public collection via the Metropolitan Museum of Art
AT-00017099
Public collection via the Metropolitan Museum of Art
AT-00017100
Open-access museum record · AT-00011281
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