Charles Balthazar Saint-Mémin (French, active New York/New Jersey, 1770-1852)

Pair of Portraits: Maurice and Marguerite Tristant de Verdun
pastel and charcoal on wove paper
unsigned, each with inscribed identification Maurice Tristant de Verduy / Peint le 20 Juin 1807 / agé de 34 ans et 3 mois and Marguerite Françoise / Touissant de Manheulles / Epouse de Maurice Tristant / Peinte le 20 juin 1807 / agée de 28 ans et 3 mois, verso
14 x 9 3/4 inches.

Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770-1852), a French nobleman, came to New York in 1793 and began making portraits in 1796. With the help of the Physiognotrace, a mechanical device that allowed for the relatively easy creation of profile portraits, Saint-Mémin produced hundreds of portraits in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and elsewhere on the East Coast from 1793 to 1814. Saint-Mémin returned to France in 1817 and worked as director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon until his death.

Maurice Tristant was born on March 13, 1773, in Verdun, Meuse, France to Hubert and Barbe Benoit Tristant. He married Marguerite Toussaint (1779-?) or Manheulles, Meuse, France on June 9, 1800. The couple had one son, Henry Louis, born on July 29, 1806, and one daughter, Ursule, born on October 24, 1811. Maurice died on April 8, 1824. The historical record does not suggest that the Tristants had any familial or professional ties to the United States, so the circumstances surrounding the commission of these portraits are presently unknown.