Raynors HCA 2015-05
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/21/2015
Charleston. 1809(?), Circular image, 2-3/8” in diameter, on square sheet of paper. A fine copy. Charles B.J.F. de St.-Memin was a French emigree who came to America in 1793. In 1796 he began producing portraits using a physiognotrace, then transferring the image to an engraving using a pantograph. Each patron would receive the original, a series of engravings, and the original copper plate. Impressively true to life, St.-Memin's portraits were in great demand, and he executed some 900 of them, including many of the leading citizens of the republic, until he returned to France in 1810. This fine portrait is of William Drayton, not John Drayton as is sometimes asserted. Although the caption bears John Drayton's name, the portrait is of a very young man, probably in his early twenties, and could not possibly be the stout governor who was in his forties at the time. A lawyer, William Drayton (1776-1846) became a colonel in the War of 1812 and later a prominent Congressman from South Carolina, and was an opponent of nullification.
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