Saint-Mémin executed the watercolor in 1807, shortly after Lewis returned to the eastern United States from the Pacific. Lewis had reached Washington in late 1806 and spent much of 1807 in Philadelphia overseeing the preparation of expedition specimens, maps, and the eventual publication of the journals. During this period he sat for Saint-Mémin, who produced several likenesses of him, including a profile in black and white chalk and this fuller watercolor showing him in the Shoshone garments he had brought back. The ermine tippet itself was a diplomatic gift, exchanged during the negotiations that secured horses for the expedition’s crossing of the Bitterroots, and Lewis appears to have valued it as a tangible record of that encounter.

Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Mémin (1770–1852) was a French émigré who fled the Revolution and settled in the United States in 1793, building a portrait practice that relied on the physiognotrace, a mechanical drawing device that produced accurate profiles. He drew many of the prominent figures of the early republic before returning to France in 1814. The Lewis watercolor is unusual within his output for its full-color treatment and ethnographic subject matter, and it is one of only a handful of life portraits of Lewis. The work is held by the New-York Historical Society and has been reproduced widely in expedition scholarship and exhibitions, serving as the standard visual reference for Lewis’s appearance in Native-made dress and for the Shoshone tippet itself.

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The portrait dates to roughly 1807–1808, the period immediately following Clark’s return from the Pacific. By 1807 Clark had been appointed Brigadier General of the Louisiana Territory militia and Indian agent for the western tribes, and was traveling between Washington, Philadelphia, and St. Louis as he took up these duties. Saint-Mémin was then the leading profile portraitist in the federal cities, and prominent figures connected to the expedition—Meriwether Lewis, several of the Indian delegates Lewis and Clark brought east, and Clark himself—sat for him during this brief window. The Saint-Mémin profiles thus form a visual record of the expedition’s immediate aftermath, when its members were celebrated public figures in eastern political circles.

Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770–1852) was a French émigré aristocrat who fled the Revolution and supported himself in the United States by producing profile portraits, typically delivering a large chalk drawing along with a small engraved version. He worked in this manner for roughly two decades before returning to France in 1814. His sitters included Thomas Jefferson, Paul Revere, and a wide range of federal officials, making his output one of the most systematic visual catalogues of early republican America. The Clark profile is held by the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis, the principal repository for Clark family material, where it sits alongside other portraits, manuscripts, and objects connected to his career as explorer, territorial governor, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. It is among the earliest portraits of Clark drawn from life and has been reproduced widely in expedition scholarship.

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The portrait dates to 1807, when Sheheke traveled east in the company of Lewis and Clark following the expedition’s return to St. Louis in September 1806. The chief had accepted the captains’ invitation, made at the Mandan villages on the upper Missouri in the summer of 1806, to meet President Jefferson in Washington. Sheheke, his wife Yellow Corn, and their son, accompanied by the interpreter René Jusseaume and his family, met Jefferson late in 1806 and then continued to Philadelphia, where Saint-Mémin was working. Returning Sheheke safely to the Mandans proved difficult: an 1807 military escort under Nathaniel Pryor was turned back by the Arikara, and the chief did not reach home until 1809, by which time his prolonged absence had eroded his standing among his people.

Saint-Mémin, a French émigré aristocrat who fled the Revolution, established a portrait practice in the United States between 1793 and 1814, producing roughly 800 profile likenesses of the early republic’s political and social class. His sitters from the Lewis and Clark circle include Meriwether Lewis himself and several Osage delegates, making this group among the earliest reliable portraits of Native and expedition figures drawn from life. The Sheheke portrait is held by the New-York Historical Society, which acquired a substantial body of Saint-Mémin’s work. It remains the principal visual record of the Mandan chief and is reproduced in nearly every scholarly and popular account of the expedition’s diplomatic aftermath.

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The drawing was made during Sheheke and Yellow Corn’s visit to the eastern United States in 1806–1807. Lewis and Clark had persuaded Sheheke to travel from the Mandan villages on the upper Missouri to meet President Jefferson, and the chief brought his wife and son along with the interpreter René Jusseaume and his family. After meeting Jefferson in Washington in late December 1806, the party traveled through Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other eastern cities. Saint-Mémin, then working in Washington and surrounding cities, drew Sheheke, Yellow Corn, and several other Native delegates connected to the expedition’s diplomatic aftermath. Their return west proved difficult: a first attempt to escort Sheheke home in 1807 was turned back by Arikara hostility, and he did not reach the Mandan villages until 1809.

Saint-Mémin (1770–1852) was a French émigré who fled the Revolution and supported himself in America by producing physiognotrace profiles of statesmen, military officers, and visiting Native leaders before returning to France in 1814, where he later directed the Musée de Dijon. His Native American portraits from 1804–1807 are among the earliest reliable likenesses of Plains and Missouri River people drawn from life, predating the work of Charles Bird King, George Catlin, and Karl Bodmer by decades. The portrait of Yellow Corn is held by the New-York Historical Society as part of its Saint-Mémin holdings and has been reproduced regularly in scholarship on the Lewis and Clark Expedition and on early Euro-American depictions of Mandan culture.

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Saint-Mémin made portraits of Lewis around the time of the expedition, most likely in Washington or Philadelphia between 1803 and 1807. Lewis sat for the artist before departing west in 1803 and again after his return in 1807, when he was lionized as a national figure and used Saint-Mémin’s services partly to document Native American delegates he had brought east. The profile engravings circulated as inexpensive keepsakes, the period’s equivalent of a calling-card photograph, and their flat factual style suited a culture that prized Neoclassical restraint and physiognomic accuracy.

Saint-Mémin, a French émigré who had fled the Revolution, worked in the United States from 1793 to about 1814 and produced roughly 800 of these profile portraits, constituting one of the most complete visual registers of the early American republic. His sitters included Thomas Jefferson, members of Congress, military officers, and the Osage and Mandan delegates Lewis escorted to Washington. The Lewis profile is one of the few contemporary likenesses of the explorer taken from life and has been reproduced repeatedly in biographies, expedition histories, and exhibitions, including the bicentennial-era displays mounted between 2003 and 2006. Impressions are held by several American institutions; the example credited here belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Together with Charles Willson Peale’s portraits, the Saint-Mémin profile has shaped the standard visual image of Lewis in the historical-memory tradition.

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