Images(2)

Portrait of Bernard Moore Carter (1780-1843)

Date1800-1900

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

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Richmond (probably)

MediumMezzotint and line engraving on wove paper

DimensionsFramed: 6 1/8 × 6 1/8 in (15.56 × 15.56cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2009-147

Description19th Century restrike of 1808 engraving of Bernard Moore Carter (1780-1843) of Woodstock, Fauquier County, Virginia and brother to Robert Carter.Label TextThis engraving is a nineteenth-century restrike of an 1808 engraving of Bernard Moore Carter (1780-1843), a member of the prominent Carter family of Virginia, who was born at Shirley in Hanover County, Virginia. Upon his marriage to Lucy Grymes Lee (1786-1860), Carter received Woodstock in Fauquier County, Virginia as a wedding present. Carter, however, preferred wandering around Europe, traveling from 1812 to 1820. When he returned, he and Lucy separated, and she permanently moved to Philadelphia. In 1808, Bernard Moore Carter sat for French artist and engraver Charles Balthazar Julein Fevret de Saint-Memin (1700-1852). Saint-Memin had traveled to the city due to the trial of Aaron Burr for treason. The influx of witnesses, Burr supporters, and trial spectators led Saint-Memin to travel to Richmond and take advantage of the strong client base in the city. 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. He made engravings of a large number of Virginians, including many members of the Carter family.

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).