Description
This may be the original drawing for the copper engraving used as a frontispiece by Gideon Fairman in William Moultrie, "Memoirs of the American Revolution," vol. I (New York, 1802).
The French inscription has been identified by Professor Gilbert Chinard and Mr. Stewart W. Jackson as the handwriting of Michelange Bernard de Mangourit (1752-1829), who was appointed French consul at Charlston in 1792 and who seems to have remained there until 1795 or 1796.
Provenance
William T. Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1897, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest [in 5 West Mount Vernon Place].
Inscriptions
[Signature and date] Lower left, around edge of portrait oval: Charles Fraser - So. Carolina 1802; [Inscription] Bottom center: His Excellcy William Moultrie Late Governor of the State of S. Carolina / Major General in the American Revolutionary War;
[Inscription] Bottom center, attributed to Michelange Bernard de Mangourit (1752-1829), French consul at Charlston, SC: je suis fure [sic] destitué en 1793; il m’offrit une de ses terres pour azyle: Toujours dans mon coeur!
Credit
Acquired by William T. Walters
