Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
March 1779
Primary Source Reference:
Du Simitière Memorandum Books, Library of Congress, fol. 42r
Notes:
On list of "Paintings and Drawings done."
Conrad Alexandre Gérard (1729-1790) was the first French minister to the United States (1778-1779); he carried Du Simitière's drawings of eminent men of the Revolution with him on his return to France and arranged for their engraving and publishing in Paris by Benoît-Louis Prévost (ca. 1735-ca. 1804) in 1781 as Collection des Portraits des Généraux, Ministres & Magistrats qui se sont rendus célèbres dans la Révolution des Treize Etats-Unis de l'Amerique Septentrionale. Fourteen portraits comprise this edition, including Gerard's. Some of the engraved sets were captured by the British on their way to America and were pirated by two British publishers, William Richardson and R. Wilkinson, whose editions included thirteen and twelve portraits, respectively. See Edna Donnell, "Portraits of Eminent Americans after Drawings by Du Simitière," The Magazine Antiques, vol. 24, no. 1 (July 1933):17-21.
In April 1779 Du Simitière made a second drawing of Gérard and gave one to him (MB, 42r, 44r).
