Mederic-Louis-Elie Moreau de Saint-Mery

James Sharples

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

According to William Dunlap, biographer of American artists, the price for a profile likeness by James Sharples was $15; for a full-face, $20. The so-called full-face images, such as this, actually portray a three-quarters visage. They are relatively rare in Sharples’s oeuvre and, almost without exception, are singular images, whereas his profiles were drawn to be replicated. Moreau de Saint-Méry, a member of a distinguished Creole family, served as deputy for Martinique and as an elector in Paris before being forced to flee to the United States in November 1793, after Robespierre’s accession to power. He sat for Sharples in Philadelphia, where he owned a bookshop, pursued his career as an author, and sold dry goods on the side.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art