[ENGRAVED MEZZOTINT] PORTRAIT OF NICHOLAS CABELL.

Charles B. J. Fevret de Saint-Memin

[Richmond]: [1808].

A Saint-Memin profile mezzotint engraving of Nicholas Cabell, done in 1808. The image has been trimmed to the plate; the circular portrait is 2 1/4” across. ~~The biographical note for Nicholas Cabell, Jr. in Norfleet’s Saint Memin in Virginia is as follows: “Born at ‘Liberty Hall,’ Nelson Co.; son of Col. Nicholas Cabell, Sr., and his wife Hannah Carrington...; brother of William H. Cabell ...; educated at Hampden-Sydney, 1798-1799, and at William and Mary, 1800-1801; married Oct. 20, 1802, Margaret Read Venable (1782-1857), daughter of Samuel Woodson and Mary Carrington Venable, of Prince Edward Co.; after his marriage he lived at ‘Liberty Hall,’ which he inherited at his father’s death in 1803; father of Nicholas Francis Cabell; captain of Nelson County militia, 1805; justice of the peace, 1808; died June 25, 1809, and was buried at ‘Liberty Hall’.” [Norfleet, Saint-Memin in Virginia, p. 148]. ~~French artist Saint-Memin arrived in the United States in 1793, and promptly began to learn the arts of engraving and painting. He developed a process of making chalk portrait drawings, and then employing a pantograph to trace the drawing, making a line engraving on a copper plate, He invented a “roulette” to produce shading on the engraving. The sitter, for his fee -- generally around $25 for a gentleman -- received the drawing, the copper plate, and a dozen engravings of the portrait. [Norfleet, pp, 13-49] (Norfleet p. 148; Miles 260,261).

Item #296331

Price: $150.00