Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de - Elizabeth Wirt - 1807-08 - T-Shirt

A strict left-facing profile of a young woman, drawn in black crayon and white chalk against a warm rose ground and dated 1807–1808.

Visual Elements & Composition

The head and upper shoulders fill a vertical field, and the plain pink ground leaves nothing to compete with the figure. Black crayon defines the nose, lips and chin, while white chalk lifts the ruffled collar and the highlights in the hair. Short curls frame the brow and temple, and the rest of the hair is gathered high at the crown into a full, looped arrangement set with a tortoiseshell-coloured comb. Salmon pink covers half the sheet, with dark brown in the hair and gown and warm grey in the shading.

Meaning & Symbolism

The high bun, the comb and the ruffled neckline date the sitter to the years around 1807 and 1808, when this style marked a young woman of education and means. Her steady, slightly lowered gaze gives the portrait a modest, reflective air. The drawing is by Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin, who made profile portraits in black crayon and chalk in the United States in the early nineteenth century. He traced each outline with a mechanical device and completed the interior by hand, producing exact likenesses that could be copied and distributed. This sheet shows that method at its most refined.

Carrying the Profile on the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

On a tee, the profile sits across the chest as one clean outline, so the eye reads the face first and the collar second, the order the artist intended on paper. The open ground keeps the figure legible at a glance and up close. Wearing it places the portrait in the same position as the sitter in the drawing: turned to one side and quietly composed.