Images(2)

Portrait of John Wickham (1763-1839)

Date1808

Artist Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin 1770 - 1852

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Richmond

MediumMezzotint with line engraving and etching on wove paper

DimensionsFramed: 4 5/8 × 4 5/8 in (11.75 × 11.75cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2009-143

DescriptionProfile portrait of John Wickham facing left.Label TextThis engraving depicts John Wickham (1763-1839), a member of a loyalist family during the American Revolution and, later, a Richmond-based lawyer. In 1780, Wickham was arrested in Virginia while carrying letters for the British. Later in life, Wickham studied law at the College of William & Mary and became a lawyer who served as chief counsel during the trial of Aaron Burr for treason. Burr faced the charge of treason for his role in an alleged conspiracy to create a separate empire of states and territories along the Mississippi River. Wickham faced scandal and scrutiny during the trial for hosting a dinner party attended by both Burr and the trial’s judge, Chief Justice John Marshall. During the trial, the city filled with witnesses, Burr supporters, and trial spectators. This influx of people created a strong client base for French artist and engraver Charles Balthazar Julein Fevret de Saint-Memin (1700-1852), who arrived in the city in 1807. Saint-Memin’s profile portraiture benefited significantly from the trial, with the artist making more than 120 portraits during his short time in the city. John Wickham and his wife, Elizabeth Selden McClurg, both sat for Saint-Memin.

Saint-Memin was a French émigré and former military officer who fled France during the French Revolution. The Saint-Memin family planned to travel to their plantation on Saint-Domingue but abandoned that plan when the Haitian Revolution began. Ending up in British North America, Saint-Memin was a prolific artist traveling up and down the East Coast, engraving more than 800 portraits. He created his portraits with a physiognotrace, a mechanical drawing instrument that artists used to accurately draw portraits. Sitters could purchase the life-size drawings that the physiognotrace produced as well as small engravings of the duplicated portrait. Saint-Memin also made custom frames for many of his clients’ portraits. Most of the frames were gilded and the glass decorated with black paint and gold leaf. With the revival of neoclassicism during the Federal period, Americans increasingly sought out portraiture. Portraiture was viewed as an honorific style that alluded to the Roman Republic and the virtue of its leaders. In 1814, Saint-Memin returned to France permanently with his family after the overthrow of Napoleon and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. Upon leaving, he destroyed his physiognotrace and ended his career as an artist. Later, in 1817, Saint-Memin became the director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon, France.ProvenanceDates unknown, probably descended through the Wickham-Carter family (Hickory Hill, Hanover County, VA); Before 2009, Alexander Reeves Fine Art (Richmond, VA); 2009-present, purchased by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).