Just for Fun / History of Silhouette / Silhouettist Bios / Folk Portrait Artists / Why Collect Likenesses? / Scherenschnitte, The Art of Papercutting / Theorem Painting in America / Tokens of Love & Friendship / Antique and Vintage Purses / Valuation Considerations of Antique Artwork / Hiding In Plain Sight / Early Mourning Rituals / History of Christening or Birth Pillows / History of Hooked Rugs / History of Footstools

Below are brief biographies of some of my favorite silhouette artists.  These are the a small portion of the artists of the antique silhouettes I collect and sell.  These silhouettists generally worked from the period of 1760 to 1870.  I add new artists to this biographical page as time permits and information becomes available.  Enjoy and please email me if you are seeking information about a particular artist.

A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P/Q/R/S/T/U/V/W/X/Y/Z

William Bache, American Silhouettist (1771-1845)

William Bache was born in Worcestershire, England but hurried to Philadelphia at the age of 22 years.  He became established as a silhouettist almost as soon as he arrived and, later, traveled to the Southern States and West Indies to ply his trade as an itinerant artist.  Bache advertised "Cutting, shading and painting of profile likenesses in a new and elegant style from long experience and great success in business and aided by an improved Physiognotrace, feels confident of rendering general satisfaction."  Bache surely delivered great satisfaction with his elegant hollow cut silhouettes, cut assuredly and made elegant with added India ink curls on the border of the cutting and Chinese white highlights added to the background paper.  He referred to these stunning silhouettes as "shaded profiles."  Bache also showed his artistic expertise with fully painted "shaded profiles," many which were reproduced in the 1920s and are now being offered as period silhouettes.  We know through his scrapbooks which descended through his family that he also cut many cut & paste silhouettes, although I have never seen one on the market.  Part of his scrapbooks can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery's blog facetoface.

In his short career, Bache cut or painted profiles of George and Martha Washington as well as Martha's daughter Mrs. Lawrence Lewis (née Nelly Cutis), Thomas Jefferson and Daniel Wadsworth, among others.  Bache's career was cut short when, sometime between 1812 and 1822, a tree fell on him while chopping wood.  As a result, Bache's right arm was amputated.  Bache was appointed postmaster of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania and remained in that position until his death in 1845.

                Top

William Dyce (or Dyer) Beaumont (active c. 1833-1850)

Beaumont's work is known for his use of sepia or dark brown paper from which he cut elegant and graceful women which he accented with subtle but highly unusual touches of color.  Beaumont is known to have worked since the 1830s although his early work is not as successful as his later work.  He cut men as well as women, but it is his women which are the most highly sought.  His women were well placed with chairs of the early Victorian period and accessories such as ornate tea tables, stools, books, morocco-bound leather books, music scores, and sewing.  Carpets are sometimes shown in color but to date we have no record of further painted backgrounds.  His silhouettes of the 1840s and beyond has been called "among the finest of the period."  McKechnie, Sue, British Silhouette Artists and their Work:  1760-1860 (Sotheby Park Bernet Publications, 1978) 190.  Woodiwiss said, "Beaumont enjoyed using colour and always did so with the blending and discrimation of good taste.  He arranged the details of his grouping with infinite care and his silhouettes may fairly be described as perfect examples of Victorian calm and breeding."  Woodiwiss, John, British Silhouettes (Country Life Limited 1965) 68.  According to McKechine is known to have signed his silhouettes "Beaumont", "W.H. Beaumont", W.H. Beaumont, fecit [date]."  See McKechnie at page 190.  In 2005, Diane Joll of the Silhouette Collectors Club reported that Christies sold Beaumont silhouettes signed, "W.D. Beaumont" and "Dyce Beaumont" so we all assumed that McKechnie was mistaken in saying that Beaumont signed with "H."  Recently, a pair of silhouettes sold on ebay with the signatures "W. Dyer Beaumont, fecit, 1851".  Therefore, we must also wonder whether Ms. Joll was mistaken (she included no photo of the Christie's silhouette signatures) or whether the pair on ebay had fake signatures (the signatures of the two pieces bore somewhat different handwriting).  The simple neat signature "Beaumont" such as the one photographed on the right is well-recorded on the majority of Beaumont's work.  One trade label has been recorded.

                Top

William Henry Brown, American Silhouettist (1808-1883)

William Henry Brown was born and died in Charleston, South Carolina. He worked as an engineer in Philadelphia where he lived from 1824 until at least 1841. He began his career as a silhouettist in the 1830s working first in New England and then traveling widely throughout the South. Brown pursued his career as an artist until at least 1859. After 1859, Brown is known to have resumed his work as an engineer.

Although Brown is often compared to Edouart, he began cutting silhouettes almost 15 years before Edouart ever set foot in America. Brown made his debut as a silhouettist in 1824 with a full-length silhouette of General Lafayette. Brown was a mere sixteen years old at the time. Like Hubard, Brown was considered a child prodigy. Also like Hubard and Edouart, Brown cut his silhouettes freehand with common scissors. His embellishment is subtle and superbly rendered. His cutting is considered one of the best—Alice Van Leer Carrick believes that Brown’s silhouettes of men are better on the whole than those cut by Edouart.

Brown often mounted his silhouettes on lithograph backgrounds, apparently made for him by the Kelloggs of Hartford. He is most well known for his book Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans published as a collection of full-length silhouettes with biographical sketches and letters written by the subjects. The book was published in 1846 by E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. Almost the entire edition was destroyed by fire and it is rare to find a complete copy of the book. Luckily, the Kelloggs also published the individual silhouettes from Brown’s book as lithographs. This lithography is most often what can be found on the market from Brown’s career. Original silhouettes are difficult to find despite the fact that Carrick believes he was as prolific as Edouart.

Besides the single figures that we most likely think of when hearing Brown’s name, he was a most industrious artist who cut profiles of an entire train, a fire brigade, and even a funeral procession. His silhouette of the St. Louis Fire brigade contained an engine, two hose carriages, and sixty-five firemen. The finished grouping was 25 feet long! Brown’s rendition of “The De Witt Clinton” train is over six feet long and may be viewed in the Connecticut Historical Society where it has hung since Brown presented it to the Society himself.

                                            Top

William Chamberlain, American Silhouettist (1790-1821)

Little is known about William Chamberlain although his silhouettes epitomize everything that is loved about American folk silhouettes. 

Genealogy research tells us that he was born on April 3 (or 13), 1790, in Loudon, New Hampshire, the child of Captain Moses and Rebecca (Abbot) Chamberlain.  He married Mary Ann Baker in 1813 or 1814.  Together, they had one daughter, Mary Chamberlain, born in Loudon on August 28, 1835.  In the 1850 census, Chamberlain listed himself as a chair-maker, leading us to speculate that either the life of an itinerant silhouettist was not profitable or that he wanted to find a way to stay home with his family.  Chamberlain died at age 70 on April 13, 1860.  He was buried in the Plains Cemetery, Boscawen, NH.

Carrick, in Shades of Our Ancestors tells us that Chamberlain went on a two-year silhouette cutting tour through Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York.  His grand-daughter, Mrs. Frederick McClure of Worcester, Massachusetts, gave to the American Antiquarian Society ("AAS") eighty-nine hollow-cut silhouettes done by Chamberlain and kept for himself.  Chamberlain cut the donated silhouettes during a two year period in which he traveled New England in the 1820s, as an itinerant silhouette artist.  Mrs. McClure added a note to her donation saying "He made the profiles with the aid of a profile machine.  He usually cut his profiles in duplicate, and these are the ones he preserved." It is these eighty-nine silhouettes that allow us to attribute work to Chamberlain because he never signed nor stamped his work.

Chamberlain's work is hollow cut.  He cut the heads of his men, left the collar and shirt front as an uncut part of the background paper, then cut the shoulder to the end of the bustline.  He then drew and painted the shirt and collar details.  The women in his duplicate folio are completely hollow cut, from the top of the head to the bottom of the bust-line.  I set about examining photocopies of the 89 silhouettes in the duplicate folio sent to me by the AAS and found that Chamberlain cut every silhouette in the folio with the same bust-termination line.  Every silhouette that we know with certainty was cut by Chamberlain has a convex curve at the front of the bust-line, coming up at a notch, then a concave curve to the back. 

Almost every bust-length hollow cut man in which the collar and shirt front are left uncut with drawn-in details has been attributed to Chamberlain by uneducated dealers.  Collectors should beware of such misattributions and look for examples of Chamberlain's work before spending a lot of money on a "Chamberlain" from a dealer who does not specialize in silhouettes.  Examples may be found in Carrick's book and Silhouettes in America, 1790-1840 by Blume J. Rifken.¹  I am currently offering a copy of both of the reference books on the Books page.

¹After studying photocopies of the silhouettes in the Chamberlain duplicate book, I must disagree with Rifken's attribution to Chamberlain on pages 50-51.  While Chamberlain might have cut those silhouettes, the bust termination is not the same as those in the duplicate book, which are the only ones we know with certainly were made by Chamberlain.

Top

Please view the Chamberlain silhouette pairs currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

Augustus Day (active 1800 - at least 1845)

Augustus Day was a carver, gilder, portraitist and silhouettist.  He advertised as a physiognotrace profilist in Charleston, South Carolina in 1804.  Most of his work seems to have been done in Philadelphia where he advertised as carver and gilder (1800-1806, 1814-1821), looking glass maker (1823-1825), and painter (1829-1833).  His hollow cut silhouettes are impressed with a stamped signature "DAY'S PATENT" and his painted silhouettes were hand signed "Day Fecit".  His very desirable painted silhouettes were either black with soft painted hair tendrils and frilled ladies' collars painted with a soft grey-blue tone; or the more desirable olive-green and elaborately gilt embellished.  His hollow cut silhouettes are more scarcely found than his painted profiles and, indeed, are some of the most rare of signed American silhouettes.

Please view the Day silhouette currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

Top

De Hart's silhouette of George Washington

Scan from Van Leer, Carrick,

Shades of Our Ancestors. Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1928. Plate after Page 18.

Sarah De Hart, American Silhouettist (1759-1832)

Sarah De Hart was one of the first American born silhouette artists and the earliest recorded American woman silhouettist. She was born on February 13, 1759 in Elizabethtown, NJ. (Although Charles Willson Peale is not known to have started cutting silhouettes until 1802, he was born 18 years earlier than De Hart, in Chestertown, MD in 1741.) De Hart’s earliest discovered silhouette was cut when she was twelve years old, in 1771. Unlike the majority of American silhouettists who would come later, De Hart cut her hollow cut silhouettes without the aid of the physiognotrace devices that were so popular in the 19th century. To date, no evidence has been discovered showing that De Hart cut silhouettes for profit, but she certainly captured the heart of George Washington for whom she cut several likenesses after visiting Mount Vernon with Washington’s sister Abigail Mayo in 1786. De Hart’s work is extremely rare (possibly because she only cut silhouettes for her own pleasure and the pleasure of friends and family). A group of about 130 of her works descended through her family until 1946 when the collection was sold to a collector. The collection was ultimately disbursed through auction in 1997.

Top

William M.S. Doyle, American Silhouettist (1769-1828)

William M.S. Doyle was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1769.  His father was a British soldier, but Doyle seems to have lived and worked his entire life in Boston.  Doyle was a silhouettist, artist of portraits of both full-size and miniature.  He worked in silhouette cutting, watercolor, oil and pastel.  His silhouettes were beautifully rendered in hollow cut or paint (sometimes painted on plaster in the manner of Miers).

Doyle did not confine himself to his artistic endeavors.  Indeed from 1806 until his death in 1828, Doyle, in partnership with Daniel Bowen, was one of the owners of the Columbian Museum.  Together, the two men built a five story building in 1806 to house the museum.  The five story building in 1806 towered over the surrounding landscape like a skyscraper!  Unfortunately, the building burned to the ground in 1807, and the two men built a smaller building which they used for the museum until 1825.

In 1811, Doyle placed the following advertisement:

Wm. M.S. Doyle

Miniature and Profile Painter

TREMONT STREET, BOSTON, next House north of the Stone-Chapel, the late residence of R.G. AMORY esq.  Continues to execute Likenesses in Miniature and Profiles of various sizes (the latter in shade or natural colors) in a style peculiarly striking and elegant, whereby the most forcible animation is obtained.

  Some are finished on composition in the manner of the celebrated Meirs of London.

  Prices of Profiles—from 25 cents to 1, 2, & 5 dollars.

                Miniatures—12, 15, 18 and 20 dollars.

Doyle’s silhouettes certainly live up to his salesmanship in that they are “peculiarly striking and elegant” and “the most forcible animation” truly is obtained.  Rarely do they come onto the market.  What few there were (for Doyle did more portrait painting that silhouette cutting or painting) have all been snapped up into private collections and museums.

Please view the Doyle attributed silhouette pair currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

Top

Augustin-Amant-Constan-Fidèle Edouart (1789-1861)

Edouart, born in the French harbour-town of Dunkerque, was a decorated member of Napoleon’s army. After the war, he was forced to move to England when he lost most of his property during the Evacuation of Holland. Like many French émigrés of that day, Edouart first tried to make a living teaching French. Finding too many rivals to excel as a teacher, this gifted artist turned his attention to hair art. Edouart made the intricate hair pictures that we are familiar with as mourning art, the plaited and floral ornaments which are commonly seen, and also wax portraits in which he embedded the natural hair to give a natural appearance.  He excelled in the field of hair art in the same way as he would later exceed in silhouette cutting.  

Edouart began silhouette cutting as the result of a heated argument with a friend who wished to commission a silhouette by an artist who used a mechanical contraption to cut profiles. In an effort to show that mechanics were inferior, Edouart sat the gentleman down, seized a pair of scissors from a nearby desk, blackened a quickly torn piece of paper with candle snuffers and snipped a silhouette of superior quality to that which the family had planned to commission. Edouart is said to have cut perfectly executed silhouettes in less than 2 minutes.

Edouart spent 24 years cutting what has been estimated as more than one hundred thousand silhouettes. He have believed that Edouart coined the term “silhouettist” because he was insulted by the then-common term “black-shade man.” By 1826, Edouart was cutting silhouettes exclusively of his hair work. He cut two original profiles of every sitting and kept one of each of the originals, named and dated, in his many folios. In 1835, Edouart wrote and published a book, A Treatise on Silhouette Likenesses.

Edouart traveled throughout England, continuously cutting silhouettes before first coming to America in 1839. He stayed in this country for ten years, cutting and cataloging silhouettes of the most important Americans of the time. Edouart cut silhouettes of six Presidents and ex-Presidents, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Story, and Madame Jumel who became the model for Charles Dickens’ mad Mrs. Havisham in Great Expectations to name a few.

In 1849, Edouart set out to return to England on the ill-fated ship, Oneida, which wrecked off the island of Guernsey. Although all of the passengers and crew were saved, only fourteen of Edouart’s folios were rescued. Broken-hearted by the loss of his life’s work, Edouart abandoned his profession and returned to France where he died at the age of 72. Edouart gave the rescued folios to the Lukis family, who had cared for him during the months following the shipwreck. There the folios stayed until, in 1911, Mrs. F. Nevill Jackson advertised to buy silhouettes for research she was conducting. The Lukis family sold the precious folios to her. Mrs. Jackson meticulously cataloged each silhouette. Where the background paper was waterlogged, she carefully removed the silhouettes and placed them on new background paper. Upon removal, she was delighted to find that Edouart had written the name of the sitter and date on the back of each silhouette as well as the bottom of each page. Mrs. Jackson cut keyholes into the new background paper so that Edouart’s written description could be seen. Where possible, she also cut his written descriptions from the bottom of the original folio pages and pasted them to the bottom of the new pages.

Mrs. Jackson eventually sold the six folios with American silhouettes to Arthur Vernay of New York. Mr. Vernay sold the majority of the American duplicates at a 3-week sale in 1913. One remaining unbroken American folio was kept by Mr. Vernay and made the subject of Auguste Edouart's Silhouettes of Eminent Americans, 1839-1844, by Andrew Oliver. Eight hundred sixty-two individual American duplicates were eventually sold to renown silhouette collector Reverend Glenn Tilley Morse.

Edouart is known for his simple and lifelike full-bodied silhouettes which are ripe with action. He used no colored embellishment, denouncing gilding, coral necklaces, and colored dresses as harlequinades. Although Edouart pronounced that “the representation of a shade can only be executed by an outline,” beginning in 1842, he sometimes penciled or chalked indications of hair, the lines of a coat, buttons and fingers. His ultimate surrender to the use of some embellishment was probably a nod to the overtaking of his profession by the daguerreotypists.  However, he always refused to use bronzing or any other color in the embellishment of his figures.

Edouart cut and assembled compositions of entire families, often backing them with stock lithographs of room or outdoor settings. Less common are his watercolor backgrounds in sepia tones. What is expected and delightfully delivered in the Edouart silhouettes are accessories such as hats, canes, letters--even family pets. His silhouette of Mrs. Mary Appleton depicts her cutting a silhouette herself. The tiny additional profile is said to be remarkably recognizable as Mrs. Appleton’s husband.

Augustin-Amant-Constan-Fidèle Édouart

The Westcott Family

1840

Black cut-paper, ink, sepia, graphite and watercolour on paper

31,2 x 46,7 cm

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, purchase (87.35)

Exhibited on this website with permission of the museum.

Marie E. Wescott, Louisa (or Louise) P. Wescott, Mary A. Wescott, James R. Wescott, Saratoga Springs, all dated 1841 except Louisa who is dated 1841.

Rescued Folios.

ex-Mrs. F. Nevill Jackson & Mr. Arthur Vernay collections.

Please view the Edouart silhouettes currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

 Top

Much of his career was spent working for John Miers Studio.  Please see the entry for Miers below.

Please view the Field silhouettes currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

                                     Top

Edward Foster was born November 8, 1762, two years into the reign of the monarch who would become his most important, George III.  Foster's father was a gentleman land-steward and mother was the child of nobility.  He joined the Derbyshire militia at the age of 17 and remained in the military for 25 years.  Once Foster retired from the military at age 42, he turned his attention to his artistic talents where he earned a fine reputation as a painter of miniatures and profiles.  King George III appointed Foster the "Official Miniature Painter to the Royal Family" and moved him into lavish apartments in the Round Tower of Windsor Palace.  Foster set up his business as a professional silhouettist in London around 1811 on The Strand. It was around the year 1811 that Foster began using papier mâché frames with a special brass hanger bearing his name above the Royal crown, meaning his appointment as Offical Miniature Painter must have been made by at least this date.  In addition to working from his studio, Foster traveled as an itinerant artist.  It appears that Foster returned to Derby in about 1832, during which year he was seventy-two years old.  Never one to rest on his laurels, Foster began drawing and printing educational maps and charts for school use.  He was married five times and had at least 17 children, only one of whom survived his death at 102 years old in 1864.¹

Foster's silhouette profiles were fully painted (not cut).  His work is generally categorized as two types:  "black profiles" with which he appears to have launched his career and later "red profiles."  For his black profiles, he used thin black paint with detail added with pigment added to gum arabic and, sometimes, Chinese white.  His "red profiles" are created with Venetian red and reddish-brown to which he added touches of gold and Chinese white.  He used a three-dot technique to depict the transparency of the fabrics of women's dresses.  Neck and shirt frills were generally left without color.

¹ Peter Seddon, Derbyshire Life Magazine, July 2009 at 170-173.

Also see a great article about Edouart Foster by Brett Payne at Photo Sleuth-blog

Please view the Foster silhouette currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

                                     Top

These brothers worked for much of their career as the Royal Victoria Gallery.  Please see Royal Victoria Gallery below.

Please view the Frith silhouette currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

                                 Top

Hinton Gibbs (active late 1790s - c. 1822)

Hinton Gibbs (incorrectly recorded by Jackson as "Hintor Gibbs") spent most of his profilist career in the militia.  His army career appears to have started as a drummer in 1793 while he was probably a teenager.  Gibbs appears to have reached the rank of corporal, apparently leaving the army shortly before the Battle of Waterloo.  At least four if Gibbs' known trade labels appear to have been used during his military career.  After leaving the army, Gibbs seems to have worked in London.

Gibbs painted silhouettes on the reverse of convex glass using two different methods.  One style was almost entirely in solid black while the other was done with the finest detail leaving a transparent look to the black paint.  He produced incredible detail by scratching the surface of the finger-painted black base with a needle and appears to have rendered detail outside the basic profile with a fine brush.  Gibbs appears to have saved this highly detailed style for the profiles of women and children.  The accuracy of Gibbs' depiction of women's clothing has given us great insight into the styles of the period.

Gibbs backed his work with wax.  Most of the wax has become damaged or has been removed.  Gibbs painted his early work on thick glass and framed them in oval turned wood frames.  He painted his later works on convex glass of normal thickness and set them in papier mâché frames.

                                       Top

                Style 1

                Style 2

                Style 3

                Style 3

                Style 5

J.H. Gillespie, Profile Artist (1793-after 1849)

James H. Gillespie started his career as a painter of miniature portraits and silhouettes in England as early as 1810, although the earliest known dated example of his work was done in 1816.  He crossed the globe to enter Nova Scotia in the 1820s.  From Canada, he migrated into the United States where he is known to have worked in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Maine.  His advertisements tell us that he charged 25 cents for plain black profiles, 50 cents for profiles shaded in black, 1 dollar to finish the silhouettes in bronze and 2 dollars for “Features neatly painted in colours.”  The outlines for his silhouettes and portraits were achieved by means of “several mechanical and optical instruments.”  His demand was so great that, to save time that the sitter needed be present, he took outlines of the sitters in the morning and completed the rest of the portrait later that same day.  The demand for Gillespie's work also allowed him to increase the price of his color portraits from $2 to $4 by the time he hit Baltimore in 1837.  By 1842, Gillespie's U.S. tour was finished and he was working in Toronto, where he stayed until at least 1849.

Gillespie painted miniature portraits and silhouettes with a practiced and careful hand.  The features are crisply delineated and his painting style is similar to the work of an artist who painted portraits on ivory.  I am, however, unaware of any portraits on ivory that have been attributed to him.  His silhouettes are generally found painted in shades of dark grey with black pigment added to show clothing details.  His use of gum Arabic to heighten detail is masterful and subtle.  Several monotone portraits backed by dark grey painted background have been found and are quite distinctive.

As a result of their recent research into the life and work of Gillespie, Suzanne and Michael Payne note that Gillespie worked in six distinctive styles:

Style 1:  Simple silhouette--profile head and neck painted in grey-black with gum arabic highlights of the ear, eye, and the hair.  Not watercolor detail added.  The Paynes tell us this was his 25-cent portrait.

Style 2:  Silhouette face with painted body--profile face painted grey-black with body carefully outlined and then painted in dark colors.  No gum arabic detailing the face or hair, but painted hair strands added.  Eyelashes are drawn with delicate brushstrokes.  Neck between face and body is outlined, with details added.  Extensive use of gum arabic to highlight the clothing.  According to the Paynes, this was his 50-cent profile.

Style 3:  White face on black background--profiled face shows the features carefully modeled using pencil, ink, and grey wash watercolor details.  The painted grey-black (carefully painted with no brushstrokes) provides contrast.  Sitter's clothing is depicted in a grey-black that is either slightly lighter or darker than the background.  Thick gum arabic highlights the clothing with a very think line of gum arabic defining the bust.  This monochromatic style appear to be the portrait that Gillespie advertised as "in imitation of Copper-Plate busts."  These portraits sold for 5 shillings while he was working in England.  My own notation to the Paynes' descriptions of this style is that I have seen several on which the background and features are painted a brownish-copper color that closely seems to imitate the sepia tones of many copper plate prints of the period.  To the left you can see an example with the grey-black and one with the brownish-copper painting. Recently, I have acquired a portrait done in imitation of copper plate print but with a touch of color added in the young girl's red hair.

Style 4:  Silhouette with bronzed highlights--profile painted grey-black with bronze paint highlights used for hair, ear, necklace, and dress.  According to the Paynes, Gillespie charged $1 for this portrait style.

Style 5:  Watercolor profile portrait--profile painted with watercolor, ink and pencil used to model the features.  A distinctive background shading provides what Gillespie advertised as "drapery".  This background provides a good means for identifying his work.  Shading around the perimeter of the portrait is achieved with large dabs of dark browns and blues concentrated on the lower right and left sides of the figure and a light blue color applied with minute brushstrokes on the top.  The darker drapery catches the viewer's eye first and draws it towards the face.  A few examples have only light blue coloration around the entire perimeter of teh portrait.  Clothing usually painted in dark tones of black or blue, with colored buttons or jewelry and gum arabic highlights.  These oval portraits have been found in lockets, wood frames, and stamped brass frames.  It appears that Gillespie produced more of this style in the U.S. than the other five styles.  The Paynes tell us that this is the style that Gillespie first offered for $2 and later for $4.

Style 6:  Less detailed watercolor profile portrait--profile face is less modeled and simpler than style 5.  The body is less elaborately drawn and there is no background shading.  This style has only been found framed in a square format.  This style has been found with sitters from Maine and Canada.  Gillespie's price for this style is unknown.

Payne, Suzanne Rudnick and Payne, Michael R., "Six Choices for the Sitter, James H. Gillespie (1793-after 1849)", Antiques & Fine Art, 200 (Summer/Autumn 2008) (online article at antiquesandfineart.com).

Please view the Gillespie profiles currently in stock on the Portraits page.

                                                                                                                  Top

Sarah Harrington (active about 1774-1787)

Sarah Harrington is an enigma to say the least. Her successful career as a silhouettist might lead one to believe she was an 18th century proponent of women’s rights, but that does not appear to be the case. Mrs. Harrington (for I would not expect her to approve if I referred to her as Ms.) began her notoriety by authoring a book of instructions of ladies’ virtues. Her book, which was published in at least 4 editions was dedicated to Princess Amelia Sophia Eleanor. The dedication reads (in part)

Your ineffable mildness, and amiable disposition, accompanied by a noble and generous expansion of heart, are virtues that will naturally encourage and invite the timorous; attracted by those realities, with deference and respect I approach your Highness, . . . , upon consideration of with the Author has done her best for the service of her sex; I have endeavoured (as far as my weak abilities would permit) to contribute my mite in the promotion of sound and useful Knowledge, with an humble endeavour to point out the most effectual means of rendering permanently happy, not my own sex in particular, but the whole nation in general. . . . .

Mrs. Harrington’s book discussed the permissible amusements of an 18th century lady: 1. The Use of the Globes (which Mrs. H. taught—to ladies only); 2. Geography and Maps (part of the above described lessons); 3. Astronomy; 4. Reading; 5. Epistolary Correspondence, or Letter Writing; 6. Poetry; 7. Music; 8. Drawing. The book also described the proper Entertaining Amusments: 1. Dancing; 2. Theatrical Entertainments; and 3. Singing, etc.

The proper Mrs. Harrington later published a treatise on the knowledge and use of maps as well as a second treatise of proper womanly amusements. In this second treatise, she deplored “the amazing increase of Dissipations of almost every kind, at present seems to fascinate our minds, and occasion an almost total neglect of those Refinements so necessary to real happiness of human beings.”

In light of Mrs. Harrington’s concern of the properness of ladies’ activities, it seems out of character that she became so successful in her profession as a silhouettist, that in 1775, Sarah Harrington applied to patent her method of producing profiles. Her patent was accepted and she became a very successful itinerant artist.

Apparently, Mrs. Harrington’s silhouette business was extremely lucrative in university towns. Numerous advertisements aimed at “the Gentlemen of the University” show that she worked in Oxford and Cambridge often and that, as time advanced, her lodgings (where she also accepted customers) were found at more distinguishable addresses.

Hollow-cut silhouettes are rare from the British Isles after 1790. During the period that Mrs. Harrington cut her lovely hollow-cut silhouettes, few others joined her (the most notable exceptions are Mrs. Beetham and Mrs. Collins). Mrs. Harrington did not use trade labels until after 1782. Her earlier silhouettes are rarely inscribed with her signature on the back of the frames. It is believed that since she was one of the earliest silhouettists, she did not have sufficient competition to warrant labeling her work until the 1780s.

Mrs. Harrington’s work is recognized by the roughly textured black paper she used to back her exquisitely cut silhouettes. Also, while most 18th century silhouettists of the hollow-cut method often left a slash from the base of the paper to the base of the bust-line showing the knife entry to the paper, Mrs. Harrington took great care in making the entry of her knife as little noticeable as possible. She also took great care when rendering eyelashes and cut bows very simply and cleanly. She represented men’s shirt frills as scallops and cut the buttons on a man’s shirt as triangles.

                                    Top

Charles Samuel Hervé II (1785-1866)

Charles Samuel Hervé II was a miniature painter, silhouette artist, professor of music, manager of the Prosopographus gallery and a fruit farmer. He worked at various addresses in London under his own name and with his nephew, Alfred Hervé, Count de la Monnière.

Recent research shows that Hervé was probably the mysterious “Prosopographus, the Automation Artist.” Handbills have been found showing that Hervé managed the mysterious gallery which appears to have been active from 1818 until the end of the 1820s. In fact, the found handbills advertised that Hervé invented the illustrious “Prosopographus,” a machine that drew the basic outline of the sitter’s profile. It is believed that Hervé’s assistants procured the basic outline via the machine, but Hervé cut and painted the silhouettes.

Hervé also worked for William Miers for a period of about 5 years. William Miers was the son of the great silhouettist John Miers. William was a profilist in his own right, but concentrated his work primarily on frame-making. It appears that Miers hired Hervé to produce copies of John Meirs’ great work for later orders. Hervé is known to have been an exceptional artist at copying other’s styles and works as well as producing extraordinary silhouettes from life in his own great style.

When working from his own gallery, Hervé used stencils to identify his work, as did his nephew Alfred. Stencils showing only the Hervé surname must be assumed to be Charles. As the elder family artist, he would have the right to the surname. Alfred’s stencils, while similar in style and fonts, identify the artist as “A. Hervé.”

               Top

Like Hubard, Martha Ann Honeywell was a child prodigy. While her silhouettes are more naïve, even a bit clumsy than Master Hubard’s, part of the charm of Miss Honeywell’s silhouettes is the triumph to human accomplishments that she could even produce them at all. Miss Honeywell was born around 1787 in Lempster, New Hampshire with only the first joints of both arms, and one foot with only three toes. The first broadsides announcing her profession of profile cutting appear in 1806 and continue until 1848. The signature on Miss Honeywell’s hollow cut silhouettes proclaims “Cut without hands by M.A. Honeywell.” Most of the silhouettes are plain, but a few gilded examples have been recorded.

While Miss Honeywell was traveling along the Eastern shore board of America and to Europe to cut her silhouettes, she also offered finely stitched needlepoint watch papers and wrote tiny verse with her mouth. Pictured are examples of both—the needlepoint is wonderfully executed and the verse is so tiny it requires a magnifying glass to read.  With magnification, one sees that it is the entire Lord's Prayer, written within less than three-quarters of an inch of paper.

                                      Top

Mary Butterfield

Attributed to Howard

Penknife Slashed Hair

Attributed to Howard

Attributed to Howard

Everet Howard, American Silhouettist (1787-1833)

Everet Howard, my favorite American silhouette artist, was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, November 22, 1787. His family moved to Leeds, Maine in 1801. He taught school for a time but, tired of teaching unruly young scholars, he quit his job and began to look for something else to do. Always a budding artist, Howard loved to “draught likenesses” of friends and dabbled in landscapes. In April, 1807, Howard “got a good horse to ride to the Westward” and commenced making preparations to journey west, through New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. It isn’t clear what Howard intended to for money—perhaps he would find another schoolmaster position or visit with relatives as his brother had done. But, a few days before his scheduled departure, Howard decided to “invent” a profile machine and become a profile artist. He worked on his “invention” for half of a day and then proceeded to take profiles. Howard improved on the design over the next week then, happening upon an itinerant profilist, replaced his own homemade machine by making a trade for the machine of the other artist. Then he set out to make his fame and fortune as a silhouettist. Howard did quite well as a last minute artist. He traveled and worked in much of Maine and eveb showed up in the New York City Business Directory for the years 1813 and 1816. We have no records for other cities, but we assume he worked in other parts of New England. There are no known silhouettes by Howard with a handwritten signature, but a few of his silhouettes have been found with the embossed signature EVERET HOWARD from the stamp that we know he bought in Brunswick, Maine.

Everet Howard’s silhouettes are a wonderful example of just how creative a machine cut silhouette can be. The profiles are sharp and lifelike—indeed technically well done. But what creates the great distinction in Howard’s silhouettes are the flourishes he used for the bust-lines or below the bust-lines. Wonderfully representative of Howard’s work is the silhouette of Mary Butterfield which ends in a great double curlicue. Similarly (but with its own charm and differentiation) is the male member of the pair shown here. Howard finished this gentleman, not only with the curlicue, but also a separately cut flourish below the profile. The girl shown in the verre églomisé mat exhibits another of Howard’s trademarks, the use of a pen-knife to slash cut the hair.

The lucky few who own the rarely found silhouettes by Everet Howard own American folk art treasures. Rarely are they found with the embossed signature, but much of Howard’s work is so distinctive that they can be easily attributed.

  Top

Master William James Hubard, Child Prodigy Silhouettist (1807-1862)

Born in Whitchurch Shropshire, England Master Hubard began cutting silhouettes at 12 years of age. He was a celebrated silhouette artist (some say an exploited child prodigy) even before he came to America in 1824 at the ripe old age of 17. By the age of 15, Master Hubard had been called upon to cut the silhouettes of the Duchess of Kent and Queen Victoria (who was still a slender little princess at the time). In 1823, the editor of a newspaper in Norwich exclaimed “We do not hesitate to pronounce Master H. the greatest phenomenon of art that this city ever witnessed, . . .”

He landed on American soil in New York where he set up the Hubard Gallery at 24 Coney Street and charged 50 cents per profile. Master Hubard never signed his silhouettes with pen or pencil, choosing instead to stencil “Hubard Gallery” onto the back or use an impressed mark stating simply “Hubard” or “Hubard Gallery” or “Taken At The Hubard Gallery.”

Hubard silhouettes are seldom embellished with color and full-length silhouettes are more commonly found than busts. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Master Hubard never relied upon contraptions or machinery for aid in cutting his silhouettes—only common scissors. His silhouettes are always cut & paste.

In 1827, Hubard broke from his manager (known only as "Mr. Smith") and took up portrait painting under the tutelage of Gilbert Stuart. He continued to cut silhouettes even after becoming an accomplished portrait artist. During the 1850s, Hubard became interested in sculpture and established a foundry in Richmond, Virginia for casting bronzes. When the Civil War started, Hubard turned his attention to inventing and producing an explosive for use by the Confederate Army. He was killed at his foundry by an exploding shell.

McKechnie tells us that Hubard's early manager, Mr. Smith, continued to run the Hubard Gallery as a going concern until about 1845.  We know that Master Jarvis (or Jervis) Hankes (or Hanks) was cutting silhouettes for the Hubard Gallery before Hubard broke with Smith.  McKechnie believed that Hankes continued with the Gallery for some years after Hubard left.  McKechnie also found evidence that Samuel Thomas Gill advertised himself as having at onetime worked for the Hubard Gallery.  The fact that the Hubard Gallery employed several artists and the fact that Hubard continued to occasionally cut silhouettes both in America and abroad makes it very difficult to determine the origins of silhouettes cut after 1823.

References:

Hansen-Knarhoi, Megan, "'Silhouette of man 1' - Taken At The Hubard Gallery", NelsonMuseum.co.na

Please view the Hubard & Hubard Gallery silhouettes currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

    Top

T.P. Jones (active First Quarter 19th Century)

Little is known about the American silhouettist T.P. Jones.  He may be the artist that Mrs. Jackson refers to as "F.P.Jones" in her book Silhouettes A History and Dictionary of Artists.  In 2007, ebay sold a pair of silhouettes clearly stamped "F.P. JONES / FECIT".  Since I did not see the F.P. Jones pair in person, I can not vouch for their authenticity as a 19th century pair.  It is possible that a company such as Foster Brothers created the pair as a reproduction, using Mrs. Jackson's reference as their example.  Dictionary of Artists in America 1564-1860 by Groce and Wallace says of T.P. Jones, "Silhouetteist working in the vecinity of Schenectady (N.Y.) in 1808. Cf. F. P. Jones ¶ Baker, "The Story of Two Silhouettes," repro."  Of F.P. Jones, Groce says, "Itinerant silhouettist of early 19th century, New England. Cf. ___ Jones, portrait painter at NYC in 1818 and T.P. Jones, silhouettist at Schenectady (N.Y.) in 1808.  ¶ Carrick, Shades of Our Ancestors, 120."  Are T.P. and F.P. Jones the same person?  I do not yet have the answer to that.

Thanks to the research of Sue Anderson, we do now know that T.P. Jones and Isaac Todd worked together in New York City from at least April through June 22, 1805.  They advertised on April 1, 1805, in the American Citizen that they had united for profile likenesses on William Street.  On June 22, 1805, the two artists advertised in the Republican Watch Tower, that they had removed to Maiden Lane.  By August 13, 1805, Jones advertised alone in the Evening Post of NYC.

According to the family history passed along with one of the silhouettes that I once owned, T.P. Jones was still working in New York City in 1826 when he cut the silhouette of Elizabeth Read(e), second cousin, once removed, to General George Washington.

T.P. Jones work beautifully executed hollow cut bust length profiles with a sloping bust termination.  His sitters have a small cut eyelash and his women usually display a delicate lock of hair above the forehead.  They are quite scarce and heavily sought by collectors.

Please view the Jones silhouette currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

                                                 Top

Lady Louisa Kerr (active 1825-1868)

Lady Letitia Louisa Kerr was an amateur artist who painted portrait miniatures and cut profiles of her family and friends. Her talent and skill is unquestionable and her silhouettes are much prized. It is thought that Lady Louisa may have been a talented landscape or flower painter as her silhouettes are always backed by beautifully painted watercolor scenes. She remained single most of her life but married Cortlandt-George Macgregor, a retired captain from the 1st Dragoon Guards in 1871 which probably signaled the end of her artistic pursuits. Lady Louisa was the eldest daughter of Charlotte, Countess of Antrim and Vice-Admiral Lord Mark-Robert Kerr.

                                                     Top

William King (known activity 1804-1806)

William King was a man of many talents but, as some might say, with a wayward disposition. We know King as a cabinet maker, turner, and profilist. He was born sometime in the last half of the 18th century in Salem, Massachusetts. While considered by many to be a genius, he also bore the qualities of a scamp.

In 1785, King was mentioned in the diary of Reverend William Bentley as living with King’s father-in-law, Deacon Phippen. A 1787 diary entry by Rev. Bentley stated:

A William King related to the family of Hodges, Webb, Stone & Mason by their wives, after having been long absent in the West Indies, about four years ago returned, and married a daughter of Deacon Phippen, by whom he had one child & the prospect of another. This W.K. being very capricious left his family, without any warning wrote a letter of his intentions to abscond, without be pressed for debt, or other visible reasons. He was pursued, apprehended near East Haven in Connecticut, by the owner of his Sulky & Horse, gave his note for 16 pounds damage, and has returned again after a fortnight’s absence.

Alice Van Leer Carrick, Shades of our Ancestors, pgs. 46-47.

In 1789, King was apparently still living with his family since he was advertising in the Salem Mercury as an ivory-turner selling canes, dice, backgammon boards, billiard balls and the like.

Then in 1796, Rev. Bentley wrote:

News from Philadelphia, that Wm. King, belonging to a good family in this Town, after having dragged his family from Town to Town, left a note that he meant to drown himself and disappeared. It is supposed that he means to ramble unencumbered. The family are to return to Salem.

Through known advertisements, it appears that King began cutting profiles around 1804. In that year, his advertisements also mentioned his turned works of ivory, wood and iron. In 1805, King advertised in Boston and no longer mentioned his turnings. In 1806, he was in Hanover, NH and claimed to have cut more than 20,000 silhouettes in Salem, Newburyport, Portsmouth, Portland and all of their adjoining towns. 

Despite King’s boast of cutting so many silhouettes, examples are difficult to find and much sought after. In her important book Shades of Our Ancestors, Ms. Carrick called him one of her favorite hollow-cutters. As she said, King had a knack of “seeing people agreeably.”

Please view the King silhouette currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

                                                 Top

           Attributed

Merryweather (active circa 1850)

Little is known about the artist Merryweather.  The rare examples of his or her work shows that Merryweather cut silhouettes in black paper against a watercolor wash base composed of concentric circles.  The figures are lightly brushed embellishment of gold.  Children are represented with toys or baskets of flowers.  Mrs. F. Neville Jackson mentions a trade label, but does not give detail.  Sue McKechnie states that the Merryweather in her collection had a handwritten inscription, "By Merryweather, Profilist" on the verso.  She also tells us that the silhouette illustrated in her book (extremely similar to the figure shown here) bore the handwritten inscription, "Cut by Merryweather, Profilist".

                                               Top

Samuel Metford (1810-1890)

Samuel Metford was born in 1810 to a Quaker family in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. He moved to America around 1834 and became a naturalized American citizen. Metford seems to have centered his profile cutting in Connecticut although he is also known to have worked in New York and South Carolina. He likely also plied his trade in other states. Metford continued working in until 1844 when he moved back to England. He made two more trips to America in between 1865 and 1867. It is unknown whether he cut profiles during the later trips to America as no examples have been found that appear to date to the 1860s. Most books list the date of Metford’s death as 1890. However, Sue McKechnie states that Metford died in 1896.

Although Metford generally placed his cut & paste silhouettes on watercolor wash backgrounds, some examples have been found with lithograph backgrounds. He signed his silhouettes as either “S. Metford” or “Sam’l Metford.”

Metford’s work is sought for its rich embellishments which he perfected to a much greater degree than most 19th century silhouettists. He embellished his silhouettes in either gold, Chinese white, or yellow-ochre watercolor.

Please view the Metford silhouette currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

                                              Top

John Miers (1758-1821) and John Field (1772-1848)

John Miers is considered the finest silhouettist of the 18th century. Miers’ father was a painter by trade, having purchased a business which did “Coach Painting and Undertaking for Funerals in general as usual.” Although the young Miers helped his father in the business, there is no evidence that this artist who is considered one of the greatest profilists in the history of art ever received formal artistic training. His painted silhouettes on plaster or ivory are prized by astute collectors.

In 1781, the young, recently married Miers began his own business as a painter, gilder, and profilist in Leeds. He advertised that he took “Most striking Likenesses taken in One Minute upon an entire New Plan.” After 5 years of advertising his “new Method” or “Peculiar Plan (which is allowed superior to any other in the Kingdom),” Miers hit a snag when he discovered that Miss Mary Lightfoot, the daughter of one with whom he had lodged had traveled to Scotland and attempted to establish herself as a profilist by copying his techniques. He fought against Miss Lightfoot’s theft with a very explicit advertisement condemning her activities. It appears that his advertisement worked, as Miss Lightfoot seems to have disappeared from the scene.

In 1791, Miers began using the trade label which backs the offered silhouette and is known as “Trade Label No. 11.” This label was used from 1791 until c. 1810. When Trade Label No. 11 came into use, Miers ceased to be the only artist working under his name. In fact, most of the silhouettes of this period were painted by others.

During this period, John Field began working for Miers. Field proved to be the most talented of the silhouettists working under Miers and by 1823 Miers son, William, and Field became partners in the studio of Miers and Field.

Field’s silhouettes are distinctive in the transparency of the ruffled areas of the sitter’s clothing and by the characteristic dip at the back of the curved bust-line. These features would remain a distinctive quality in Field’s work for the rest of his career. Later in his career, Field painted silhouettes on card with great flourish, detail and bronzing. While working for Miers, however, his silhouettes on plaster were in black with white added only for transparent detailing at the edge of the silhouettes, or light bronzing on silhouettes painted on ivory.

Please view the Miers & Field silhouettes currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

                                                  Top

Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) and Moses Williams

Charles Willson Peale, born in Chestertown, Maryland, is perhaps the most famous of the American-born profilists, and certainly known as a jack-of-all-trades. Known as the “Artist of the Revolution” he is most well known for his wonderful oil portraits of the most important of our country’s ancestors, including George and Martha Washington, and Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates.

Peale was a saddler, harness-maker, clock and watch-maker, silversmith, artist in oils, crayons, wax, and miniature. He was a soldier, legislator, lecturer, taxidermist, and dentist. He married a succession of wives and had children with all of them. A true artist, Peale named his children after artists who had blazed the way before him: Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, Titan, and Van Dyke were the names of some of his sons.

Peale opened his Museum and Art Gallery in Philadelphia in last quarter of the 18th century. Here he used the physiognotrace to make hollow cut silhouettes.  In 1802, he transferred his museum to Independence Hall. The majority of the silhouettes from the Independence Hall museum are stamped with the embossed signature “MUSEUM.” Less common is “PEALE'S MUSEUM” stamped above the form of an eagle (please see the note below about spotting fake "PEALE'S MUSEUM" silhouettes. The rarest of the three stamped signatures used by Peale is “PEALE.” We are unsure of the dates in which Peale used each of the signatures.  It is thought that Rembrandt Peale may have used the "Peale" stamp at the separate Baltimore museum.

Peale taught the art of silhouette to one of the family slaves, Moses Williams. Under Peale’s supervision and tutelage. Williams cut many of the silhouette that are signed “MUSEUM.” While many people assume that the silhouettes of statesmen cut during this period were done by Peale himself, Rembrandt Peale once said that Williams' business was so extensive that he amassed two barrels full of blockheads "among which were frequently found, by careful search, the likenesses of many a valued friend or relative, and sometimes of distinguished personages -- another source of profit to him." Rembrandt Peale, Notes and Queries. The Physiognotrace (1856), 308. Peale was fiercely defensive of Williams against any prejudices of museum visitors and credited the physiognotrace’s reputation for correct likeness in part to the “perfection of Williams’ cutting.”

Only earning 6 to 8 cents per silhouette, Williams eventually bought his freedom and later a house. He continued working as a silhouettist for the museum even after he had bought his freedom. Williams is remembered as one of the earliest known African-American artists in the United States.

Spotting fake "PEALE'S MUSEUM" silhouettes:

The most faked silhouettes in the world have the impressed signature "PEALE'S MUSEUM" under a spread eagle.  That is because, in the early 20th century, a couple of unscrupulous antiques dealers named Collins found the original stamp.  They set about making horribly cut fakes and stamping them with what had been one of the most rare of stamps from Charles Willson Peale's Museum.  The fakes are easy to spot (although they come up for sale all the time as original pieces).  First, the silhouette cutting is sloppy and the subjects are quite often George Washington and other great statespersons.  Second, the paper used by Peale's real tracing machine was 3 1/2" x 4 3/4".  The size of Peale's paper could not vary because his tracing machine was set up to hold a 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" piece of paper and automatically reduce the size of the profile while it was being traced around the actual person.  The fake silhouettes are on paper that tends to be 6" x 8"....it is impossible that this size paper was used in Peale's tracing machine.  Last, the impressed signature stamp for the real silhouettes sits right below the bust line termination....it had to because the paper was not much bigger than the actual cut profile.  The impressed stamp on the fake Peale's sits well below the bust line termination....in an apparent effort to even out the extra expanse of blank space created by such a large piece of paper (even though the figures were cut much larger than the real Peales).  The fake Peale's Museum silhouettes are so predominant in the market and the real ones are so rare that I don't even have one in my collection (although I do have a fake one that I take with me to lectures).

Please view the Peale Museum silhouette currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

 Top

This is a recognized and highly sought-after American silhouettist whose work makes me happy and shows the great creativity of American folk silhouette artist of the 19th century.  We don't know who the Puffy Sleeve Artist was, but he or she left behind a wonderful legacy of unique naïve silhouettes with hollow cut heads atop watercolor bodies.  The profiles are all three-quarter length with women always facing left and men always facing right.  The heads of women sit high above their bodies with long necks that give room to highlight their necklaces and fichus.  Hair is added above the head with India ink or watercolor.  The dresses are always painted, usually blue or black.  The women's hair combs are cut into the hollow cut and sit high above their head.  The right hands of the women rest at waist length and the left hands hold an accessory such as a book, purse, parasol, or flower.  Books often bear the initials or age of the sitter and a date.  Like the women, men have their hair painted around the hollow-cut head.  The left hand is frequently in the man's pocket or resting at hip length.  The right hands of the men holds a decorative object such as a hat, book, cane or even a trumpet.  Hands of both women and men appear to be gloved.  Many have been found in gilded frames with an inset rope, leading some to believe that these were the only original frames used by this artist.  I believe that enough have been found in originally sized period frames that this artist may have used a number of different frames.  Itinerant artists often bought frames from different frame-makers as they worked their way along their routes.  All recorded dated examples bear the dates of 1830 or 1831. Examples have been found in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts.  Work by the Puffy Sleeve Artist is so desirable that unknowledgeable (or unscrupulous) sellers often mislabel silhouettes in which women wear leg-o-mutton sleeves as work by this artist.  This artist's work is unique and there is only one other anonymous artist who did work similar to this.

Anderson, Marna A Loving Likeness American Folk Portraits of the Nineteenth Century, (Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (1992) 44-47.

Please view the Puffy Sleeve Artist silhouette currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

Royal Victoria Gallery - F. & H.A. Frith (after 1837-1854)

The Royal Victoria Gallery was managed by three artistic members of the Frith family. Brothers Frederick (who used the signature "F.") and Henry Albert (known as "H.A.") touted their talents as “PAPRYOTOMIST[s] to His Late as well as to her present Most Gracious Majesty, and to whom most of the brilliant Court of the United Kingdom have sat for Their Likenesses. . .” They claimed to have cut “many Thousand Likenesses” and to being able to complete the cutting with their “Talismanic Scissors” in only one minute. The brothers often advertised that they were joined in their travels by their father, “Mr. Frith, Senr.” “whose Talents as a Portrait and Miniature Painter are too well known to need comment.” Both brothers are known to have cut silhouettes. It is unlikely that Frith, Sr. cut profiles, but it is assumed that he may have done some of the bronze work on the more elaborately embellished silhouettes.

The embellishment of the Royal Victoria Gallery silhouettes is of the highest quality. Unless a signature identifies one of the brothers, it is impossible to know which brother may be responsible. It is also generally assumed that the Friths had unidentified assistants who may have helped with the cutting and/or bronzing. Sue McKenzie notes in her book, British Silhouette Artists and their Work 1760-1860, that signed examples tend to show that Fredrick Frith was capable of painting backgrounds in a more finished style than his brother. Also, the bronzing in some of F. Frith’s signed examples exhibits more expertly rendered work with more extreme highlighting than H.A. Frith’s signed work.

One feature common to full-length male figures produced by the gallery is the stance in which the men are shown standing with their feet apart, with the far leg bent at the knee. Although full-length female figures have legs hidden under skirts, the feet apart stance is commonly seen with the lady’s background foot pointed to the side and the front foot pointed forward.

Please view the Royal Victoria Gallery/Frith silhouettes currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

                                               Top

Justin Salisbury (active circa 1825-1835)

Justin Salisbury was a Vermont resident, who worked primarily inthe Connecticut River Valley.  Unlike most hollow cut silhouettists of the period, it appears that Salisbury worked freehand, without the aid of machines such as physiognotrace.  We believe this because his work does not exhibit an incised or penciled line bordering the edge of the profile, as most mechanically drawn profiles exhibit.  Salisbury's work is often embellished with penciled details, such as the hairstyle embellishments in this silhouette.  The sawtooth border of this young lady's neck ruff and the wave at the bust termination are characteristic of Salisbury's work.  Salisbury cut his men with hollow cut heads, uncut collar and coat lapel, then hollow cut shoulder, much the same as William Chamberlain's cutting.  However, whereas Chamberlain and most similar works of the period colored the lapel with watercolor, Salisbury used pencil to color the lapel.  He drew a very simple stock with ink.  The bust termination of Salisbury's men is a straight line, slightly angled up toward the back, with a small downward notch about two-thirds toward the back to depict the arm.

Howe, Florence Thompson, "Justin Salisbury's Silhouettes", Spinning Wheel, March 1971.  54-55.  Click here for a pdf version of the article.

Sloat, Caroline F., ed., Meet Your Neighbors New England Portraits Painters & Society 1790-1850, Old Sturbridge Village 1992.  93-95

                                                           Top

W. Seville (1797-1866) & F.W. Seville (circa 1825-1899)

William Seville probably began cutting silhouettes in 1818 or 1819 in Manchester, England. He and his son, Frederick William, offered a great variety of work other than silhouettes. It appears that W. Seville began traveling as an itinerant artist in 1820 as a number of addresses have been noted on handbills advertising his work. One advertisement notes his prices as follows:

One Black Shade for 1s.

Two Black Shades for 1s. 6d.

These, ‘bronzed’, 1s. extra.

Full-length: 5s. Two full-lengths for 6s. 6d.

Bronzed: 2s. extra.

Dogs: 3s. 6d.

One shilling for a plain black silhouette was quite cheap even for the period. Seville must have been quite busy at those prices. He eventually raised the prices of his dog profiles to 5s.

W. Seville is known as an accomplished cutter, working only with plain scissors--never the automated contraptions that were the rage in the early 19th century. The bronze embellishment may have been done by his son, F.W. Seville, who is known to have been an accomplished painter. 

A silhouette that has recently passed through my hands is signed by the son as the cutter.  The silhouette also bears the impressed stamp "W. SEVILLE, ARTIST."  Because of this wonderful find, we now know that the son worked in his father's studio as both an accomplished cutter and painter of embellishment!

There is a wonderful blog entry about William Seville and his work at

Photo-Sleuth, September 17, 2009 entry.

                                            Top

Please view the F.W. Seville silhouette currently in stock on the Silhouettes page.

Todd's Patent, Isaac Todd, American Silhouettist (active  at least 1807-1812)

Little is known of the American silhouettist who signed his profiles with the impressed stamp “Todd’s Patent.”  Alice Van Leer Carrick’s research led her to believe he was the George Todd found in the Baltimore Directory of 1810, and he was known as “George (?) Todd” since Carrick wrote her book in 1928.  Thanks for the research of Sue Anderson, we now know that the silhouettes bearing the impressed signature "Todd's Patent" were cut by Isaac Todd.  Ms. Anderson's research (which she cheerfully shared with me) found that I. Todd was advertising his appearance and work with his Physiognatrace as early as 1804 in Alexandria, VA and Washington.  Todd worked for a while in conjunction with T.P. Jones in New York City beginning in 1805.  In 1807, Isaac Todd advertised in Charleston, SC that "All profiles will be stamped Todd's Patent."  His Charleston advertisement stated that he cut 4 profiles for 25 cents "From the liberal encouragement received during nearly four years in New York, Baltimore, Alexandria, New-Orleans and several small towns..."

It is surprising that an artist who has remained such a mystery left a wonderful legacy of duplicate hollow-cut silhouettes. The Anthenænum Special Collections Library in Boston owns the beautiful folio consisting of 1,758 hollow cut silhouettes in which Todd scrupulously recorded the name of each sitter.  The Anthenænum's folio by Todd includes sitters from Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, Kentuchy, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.  The museum identifies Todd as "Isaac Todd of Baltimore".

Todd’s unadorned silhouettes were done in several sizes, from a mere 1 5/8” tall to nearly 3”. His style is distinctive and always bears the impressed stamp “Todd’s Patent.” His ladies are beautifully cut and thoughtfully rendered. But Todd’s excellence in cutting is found in his rendering of men (which are now very rarely found) who bore the most elaborate of costumes, including ruffled shirts, hairstyles à la Titus, and tall beaver hats. However, Todd’s silhouettes are so rare that any found are always quickly snapped up.

                                             Top

Electra Case & Husband John Black

Back of the John Black Silhouette

Orson C. Warner has been a mystery silhouettist until very recently.  He does not show up in any of the silhouette reference books.  However, thanks to the author of the very interesting blog Photo-Sleuth we know that Orson C. Warner was born in 1800 in Chester, Connecticut.  His parents were David Warner and Mary Cone Warner, both life-long residents of Connecticut.  Orson Warner's family first immigrated from England to America both on the Mayflower (Mary Chilton) and on the later ship Fortune (John Winslow) which came to America in 1621.  Other than this very interesting genealogy, we know little else about Orson Warner except he wrote a self-published autobiography.  I am currently waiting for a copy of this book to arrive.....I'll add any appropriate information once I have a chance to examine the book.

We do know that Warner cut hollow cut silhouettes with uncut collars for both men and women (see the silhouettes of Electra Case and John Black).  He also favored a bust termination consisting of two convex curves with a sharp point in the center (compare the silhouette of John Black with those of the Head twins) although this was not the only bust termination he used (see silhouette of Col. John Head).  We also know that he sometimes cut women with completely painted bodies (see silhouette of Anna Brown Head).  Warner identified his sitters and signed his work with rather sloppy writing on the wood backing of his frames.

Warner's silhouettes are classic examples of American folk silhouettes.

Anna Brown Head, Col. John Head & twins Natt and William Head

Top

Mary B. Pillsbury was born in Hebron, New Hampshire in 1817. Her father Stephen Pillsbury was a Baptist minister and a fifth generation American. His family members immigrated from England sometime before 1645 when the first American member, Moses Pillsbury, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Mary was the sixth of eight children born to Stephen and his wife Lavina Hobart.

Mary acquired a great love for art at an early age. When she gave an account of her life for the 1859 book Women Artists All Ages and Countries by Mrs. E.F. Ellet, Mary recollected that she first attempted to draw the face of a beautiful woman who caught her eye when she was merely seven years old. After that, young Mary spent her free time sketching and reading books about artists. She was especially fond of prevailing upon a younger sister to sit for her as she practiced sketching. Once Mary had mastered a sketch of her sister, she turned her drawing talents towards neighboring Indians who often visited Hebron. One day during Mary’s childhood, Hebron was visited by an itinerant silhouettist whom Mary watched while at work. From that day forward, Mary practiced cutting silhouettes from leaves and paper until she had mastered the art.

Although Mary wanted to spend all her time with her artwork, her mother was afraid the study of painting would interfere with more important study and refused to allow young Mary to take art lessons. Despite her mother’s objections, Mary continued to practice painting. She used beet-juice, and the extract of bean-leaves to prepare paints for herself until a family member finally gifted a box of paints to her. Mary continued to paint and read biographies of artists and as many books about classical times and faraway places as she could find in her father’s library to the exclusion of playing with other children her age. Her longing to become a famous artist filled her otherwise lonely life.

When Mary was fourteen, she ran away from home, walking thirty miles in a day with the intent to reach Concord where she hoped to earn a small living through housekeeping or laundry while she worked to establish herself as an artist. Late at night, the tired young girl finally stopped at a small house in the country where she asked to stay long enough to rest. Once Mary had told her story, the home owners asked her to stay the night. After the exhausted young girl had fallen asleep, Mary’s host left for Hebron to alert her family. The next morning, Mary awakened to find her uncle waiting to take her home. Mary’s family welcomed her home, never said a word about her disobedience and offered a bit more understanding about her wish to spend her time practicing her art instead of doing chores. Mary never quit dreaming about life as a professional artist.

At the age of nineteen, Mary finally set out to become a professional artist. With twelve dollars and a small basket of clothes, Mary left for New York. She spent a week in New York, staying with a lady whom she did not know, but who let her stay because she had previously heard about the strange young lady in Hebron who wanted to be a painter. After a week in New York, Mary took a suggestion from her hostess (and a letter of introduction) and set out for Hartford, Connecticut. There she was received by Rev. Henry Jackson who allowed the young artist to stay in his home. There she set out preparing canvases and grinding paints in preparation for her new profession. Soon after, Rev. Jackson received visitors from Willington. Mary’s paintings pleased the visitors so much, they took her home with them to paint family portraits. Nineteen year old Mary Pillsbury was now a professional artist. In Willington, Mary painted the portraits of her benefactors as well as thirty other people. Homes were opened to her all over the city. Among those she painted in Willington were members of the Jonathan Weston family.

Mary returned to Hartford and spent much of time staying with the Weston family who had a daughter of Mary’s age with whom she became fast friends. While Mary was staying with the Westons, Jonathan Weston’s brother, Mr. Valentine Weston, paid a visit and was so enthralled with Mary’s paintings that he urged her to visit New York to study art. Mary became intent upon raising enough money for a year’s study in New York. Soon however, her savings were unnecessary as an invitation came from Valentine Weston’s daughter, Sarah, for Mary to come to New York and stay with the Valentine Westons while she studied art. Mary took advantage of the offer, moved in with the Westons, studied her art, and, three months after the move, became the second Mrs. Valentine Wightman Weston.

She bore at least two children: a daughter named Valentine Lavina Weston who was born in September 1843. I have been unable to find the name or birthdate of the second child but I have found evidence that one of Mary’s children was a daughter who went by the name of Eva. Whether “Eva” was short for Lavina I can not tell, but after Mary’s husband died in 1863, Mary and Eva lived with relatives in New Hampshire before moving to Lawrence, Kansas in 1874. There Mary lived until her death in 1894.

Mary Pillsbury Weston was an accomplished portrait artist, silhouettist, and painter of classically-based paintings and religious paintings. She depicted her figures with great movement and with a special eye towards grace of the human form. Her silhouettes are rarely found and represent some of the most complicated of the already rare American conversation pieces. She cut whole families, embellished them with Chinese white and pale blue and laid them upon watercolor backgrounds of a much more complicated nature than those done by Edouart, Metford, or even William Henry Brown. Unlike other artists of the day, she used color in her backgrounds such as subtle shades of green and brown.  Her silhouettes are very rare. 

Mary’s cousin John and second cousin Charles Pillsbury founded the Pillsbury flour milling dynasty.

                                                                                       Top

Henry Williams (1787-1830)

Bostonian Henry Williams cut profiles with added watercolor embellishment for hair and collar adornments around the edge of his machine-drawn, hollow cut silhouettes.  According to his advertisements, he also painted miniatures and portraits on ivory and portraits in oil and pastel (or "crayons" as pastel was called in the 18th and 19th centuries).  His hollow cut silhouettes were signed with an impressed signature in capital letters "WILLIAMS".  His silhouettes are confidently cut with lovely extras such as small, narrow cuts for cravat ties and forelock hair.  His added adornment finishes his hollow cut silhouettes with great flourish.  One of his early advertisements described his work as follows:

CORRECT

PROFILE LIKENESSES

or no pay

    Henry Williams will take correct Profile Likenesses with his new machine; and which takes 16 different sizes down to a quarter of an inch; cut on beautiful wove paper--may have two or four cut for 25 cts. -- elegantly framed with enameled glasses from 75 cts. to 1 dol., 1.50 and 2 dols.

    Miniatures and Portraits executed upon Ivory; Portraits in Oil and Crayons; profiles painted upon glass; likewise on Ivory -- from 3 to 4 dols.  Also, Glass Miniature Settings, for Sale, from 10 to 16 and 20 dols.

    Profile Frames for sale, oval, round, square or circular, of various sizes; by the dozen, gross or single, cheaper than can be purchased in Boston.

    N.B. Constant attention from 7 o'clock in the morning, until 9 in the evening.

This advertisements was found in an 1806 newspaper, when he would have been nineteen years old.  No signed examples of Williams' painted profiles on ivory or glass are known.  His hollow cut work is very scarcely found and very desirable.

Williams is considered a versatile artist doing work in pastel, silhouette, wax portraits, oil portraits, miniature portraits and engravings. He was listed as an anatomist in the Boston directories of the 1820s. He published Elements of Drawing in 1814. The book includes an essay and twenty-six engraved copper-plate portraits and other figures. Williams was most active in miniature painting from 1808-1826. At the end of 1806, Williams was in partnership with William M.S. Doyle in Boston. Many works between the years 1810 and 1820 are signed by both Williams & Doyle.

Fellow artist William Dunlap described Williams as follows: “He was a small, short, self-sufficient man; very dirty, and very forward and patronizing in his manner.” Williams silhouettes are always hollow cut and have India Ink embellishments around the edges. They are often signed with an impressed stamp “WILLIAMS”.  His portrait miniatures display great detail and the sitters tend to have large, round eyes with heavy top and bottom eyelids. Mouths show slight pouchiness.  The tips of noses are strongly highlighted. Most works show strong value contrasts. The backgrounds are of a mottled neutral color with light to heavy shadowing to indicate light coming in from the sitter’s back. This allows the pale ivory surface to often show through the light hatching on one side of the sitter.

References:

Barratt, Carrie Rebora and Zabar, Lori, American Portrait Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Yale University Press, New Haven and London.  2010.  114-16.

Johnson, Dale T., American Portrait Miniatures in the Manny Collection.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York.  1990.  232-33.

Top

James Hosley Whitcomb (1806-1849)

James Holsey Whitcomb was born to Oliver and Hannah (née Hosley) Whitcomb in Hancock, New Hampshire.  The Whitcomb family first immigrated from England to Massachusetts sometime before 1632.  When James was two or three years old, he became ill with scarlet fever which left him permanently deaf.  In 1822, he was admitted to the American Asylum, which was founded in 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut as the nation's first institution for the education of deaf-mutes.  James was one of nine deaf children, chosen from forty applicants who received a scholarship from New Hampshire's legislative appropriation of $1000 "for the purpose of educating the deaf and dumb children belonging to this State at the Asylum in Hartford, Connecticut."  At school, James learned both written English and a sign language that was to become the basis of today's American Sign Language.  He was also introduced to abstract philosophical and religious ideas to which the deaf child had no previous comprehension.  The students spent three or four hours each day training for a specific occupation.  James learned the trade of shoemaking.  There are no specific records showing that the school taught the arts, but the school's principal, Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, seems to have included the fine arts among his goals for deaf-mutes.    Several graduates of the school are known to have become artists, including Augustus Fuller (portrait painter, admitted to the Asylum in 1824), and William Niblo, Jr. (exhibited paintings at the American and National Academies, admitted to the Asylum in 1826).  James graduated from the Asylum in 1827 and by 1830 he was producing both cut & paste and hollow cut silhouettes.

James H. Whitcomb probably spent a number of years as an itinerant artist.  Although several silhouettes by Whitcomb of New York residents have been found as well as New Hampshire residents, nothing is known about Whitcomb's exact locations until 1839 when he married Sarah Ann Enos, who had graduated from a New York institution for deaf-mutes.  By 1841, the Whitcombs lived in Afton, New York, where Whitcomb worked as a shoemaker.  James died suddenly at the age of 42 in 1849.  He had fathered three sons by the time of his early death.  It is unknown whether he continued his silhouette cutting during the last decade of his life.

Only one cut & paste silhouette by Whitcomb is know.  The silhouette is a spectacular representation of President Andrew Jackson on horseback.  Painted banners surround the president and stylized stars are painted in the corners.  It is signed "Cut with scissors and painted by J.H. Whitcomb in 1830."  This silhouette resides in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  It is Whitcomb's hollow cut silhouettes that rarely show up on the market and have such a stylized bust-line termination as to be instantly recognizable.  Only two are known to be signed, including a portrait of W.M. Matthews, signed "J.H. Whitcomb a cutter of this".  Also know is a self-portrait signed "Aged 24, 1831.  James H. Whitcomb cutter of himself."  All other of Whitcomb's work is attributed based on his exaggerated fully curved bust line terminations with deep indentations delineating the outline of the lower edge and back of the sitter's coat so that the bust termination looks like an apostrophe.  The men all have hollow cut heads and the shoulder beneath the jacket lapel is also hollow cut.  The coat lapels, shirt front and collar are all left uncut, then richly detailed with ink and watercolor.  Hair is added to the simple cutting of the head with the addition of ink or watercolor.  The women have the same apostrophe bust curve.  Again, heads and shoulders are hollow cut and the woman's collar is left uncut.  Details of collars are delightfully painted with watercolor and ink.  Bonnets or hairstyles are softened with pencil or watercolor.  The depth of the apostrophe bust curves vary from silhouette to silhouette showing that Whitcomb's formula was not hard and fast.  He took the time to make each silhouette unique.

J.H. Whitcomb silhouettes are quite rarely found on the market and highly sought.

References:

Garvin, Donna-Bell, "James Hosley Whitcomb: New Hampshire Silhouettist", Historical New Hampshire, Spring/Summer 1977.  42-57.

Jackson, Mrs. E. Nevill, Silhouettes a History and Dictionary of Artists.  Dover Publications, Inc. New York 1987 (first published in 1938 by Methuen & Co. under title Silhouette: Notes and Ditionary).  152 & Plate 60, illustrating signed silhouette of W. M. Matthews by Whitcomb).

Rifken, Blume J., Silhouettes in America, 1790-1840.  Paradigm Press, Inc., Burlington, VT.  1987.  74-75 (showing two unattributed Whitcomb silhouettes of New York residents.

Please view the Whitcomb silhouette currently in inventory on the Silhouettes page.

Top