Biography
Born in Geneva, du Simitiere's original name was Pierre-Eugène Ducimetière or Pierre-Eugène du Cimetière. After leaving Switzerland, he spent more than a decade in the West Indies before moving to New York and then Philadelphia. He spelt his name Pierre-Eugène du Simitière, Pierre Eugene du Simitiere or du Symitiere after settling in Philadelphia. Elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1768, he further became one of its curators (1777-1781).
Du Simitiere served as the artistic consultant for the committees that designed the Great Seal of the United States, and in 1776 he submitted the first proposed design to include the Eye of Providence, which element was eventually adopted. Moreover, he suggested the adoption of the U.S. motto E pluribus unum ("Out of Many, One"). He also designed the Seal of New Jersey, of Delaware, and of Georgia. In 1779, du Simitiere painted the first known portrait of George Washington, later used for the 1791 one-cent coin. In 1781, he was conferred an honorary degree from Princeton University (which was still called College of New Jersey until 1896). Thomas Jefferson's daughter Martha took drawing lessons with du Simitiere.
Read more about this topic: Pierre Eugene Du Simitiere
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“There never was a good biography of a good novelist. There couldn’t be. He is too many people, if he’s any good.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“The death of Irving, which at any other time would have attracted universal attention, having occurred while these things were transpiring, went almost unobserved. I shall have to read of it in the biography of authors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)