Artwork
Hannah Breck
Hannah Breck is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin. It dates from 1799 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
The composition places the sitter against a deep, uniform background, allowing the subtle modeling of her face and attire to dominate the visual field.
Created in 1799, this black‑and‑white print depicts Hannah Breck, a woman rendered with refined features and a faint smile. The portrait is executed on wove paper, with the image transferred from a mezzotint and engraving onto a brown‑toned backing. The composition places the sitter against a deep, uniform background, allowing the subtle modeling of her face and attire to dominate the visual field.
Subject & Meaning
The work presents Breck in a modest dress distinguished by a ruffled collar and modest earrings, suggesting a genteel social standing. Her slight smile and composed gaze convey a sense of calm confidence, typical of portraiture intended to convey the sitter’s virtue and poise within the conventions of late‑eighteenth‑century portraiture.
Technique & Style
The image combines mezzotint’s tonal richness with the fine line work of engraving, both executed in black ink. Mezzotint allows smooth gradations from deep shadows to delicate highlights, while engraving adds precise detailing to features such as the earrings and fabric texture. Mounted on wove paper, the print benefits from a smooth surface that enhances the subtle tonal transitions.
History & Provenance
Attributed to Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint‑Mémin, a French artist active in the United States after the Revolution, the portrait reflects his practice of producing prints of American subjects. The piece likely originated from a commission or portrait series circulated among the emerging American elite, and it now resides in a collection that preserves the original mounting of the print to a brown wove backing.
Artist & collection
Artist
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (French pronunciation: ; 1770–1852) was a French portrait painter and museum director.
