[St-Mesmin] (b Dijon, March 12, 1770; d Dijon, June 23, 1852). French engraver, painter and museum director, active in the USA. He went to New York in 1793 as a refugee from the French Revolution and by 1796 had taught himself the techniques of engraving. From Thomas Bluget de Valdenuit (1763–1846), his partner in 1796–7, he learnt to take profile portraits in the manner used by Gilles-Louis Chrétien (1754–1811) in Paris in the 1780s and 1790s. Between 1796 and 1810 Saint-Mémin made about 900 bust-length profile portraits using a pantographic drawing device called a physiognotrace. Each black-and-white chalk portrait was drawn on beige paper (c. 540×400 mm) that was first coated with a pink wash. The drawing was then reduced onto a square copperplate about one-tenth its size, engraved in a circular border and printed. Saint-Mémin worked in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Richmond, VA, and Charleston, SC. He paid great attention to individualizing his portraits, and his success provoked contemporary artists to imitate his use of a mechanical drawing device. His many portraits include ...