Andre Joseph Villard

David Boudon, Swiss, born Geneva, Switzerland 1748-died 1816; last known residence Chillicothe · 1810-1812

Silverpoint was an unusual medium for a miniaturist, yet more than half of David Boudon’s work incorporates this exacting drawing technique. To draw with silverpoint, the artist took a wooden stick fitted with a silver tip and drew on his prepared paper. The pale, silvery lines quickly tarnished, leaving a darker, warm brown color. Andre Joseph Villard appears to have been a wealthy Virginia planter. In 1794 his daughter Constance married fellow Virginian William Hutt, who moved the family to Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1799.