David Edwin's portrait of Thomas Jefferson
In a world hungry for illustration, before the camera’s introduction, engravings in black and white sold well on the popular market. Portraits of statesmen were especially favored, as this of Thomas Jefferson by David Edwin, engraver of Philadelphia. He copied the head from the Rembrandt Peale portrait of 1800 then gave Jefferson a black suit and a formal setting that was comparable to the 1796 portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, which had been made available to the public with the engraving by John Heath in 1800.
