Antique Silhouette of Rev. Samuel C. Waterston of Pitts St. Chapel, Boston, by Augustin Edouart

Peggy McClard Antiques

Americana & Folk Art

In his duplicate folios, Edouart identified this clergyman as “Rev. R.C. Waterston, Pitts St. Chapel, Boston, 22 Decemb. 1841”. Robert Cassie Waterston was born in Boston in 1812. In 1840, he married Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy (born 1812). They had two children: Helen Ruthven Waterston (b. Jan. 6, 1841) and Robert Waterston (b. May 1845, d. abt. 1847). Waterston was the evangelical pastor of the Pitts Street Chapel, Boston; formerly superintendent of the Bethel Sunday School under Rev. E.T. ("Father") Taylor. He was the only clergyman Charles Dickens heard preach in Boston and a letter from Dickens to Waterston is published in Letters of Charles Dickens by Charles Dickens, Madeline House, Graham Storey, Katherine Tillotson, British Academy. Oxford University Press 1974. 52. Waterston traveled extensively in Europe and Middle East. He published books on religion and poems. He was the pastor of Second Church Boston from 1845-1852. I have a good size folder of his writings and references to him that I printed from the internet. This folder will be presented to the buyer. I’ve had it reframed it into a period bird’s-eye maple frame measuring 7 ¾” x 11 ¾”. The back is framed with glass so that you can see Edouart’s inscriptions on the back of the silhouette. The main inscription says “R.C. Waterston / Pitts St. Chapel / Boston / Dec^r. 22. 1841”. This inscription is written behind the pulpit at which Waterston stands. Directly behind his torso is a second inscription “37 Temple”. This may have been Waterston’s home address, an identification point that Edouart often used. A partial Vernay collection label was attached to the back glass when I acquired the silhouette, but it was hanging on for dear life. I removed it, placed it inside an archival folder and have it sandwiched between the back of the silhouette card and the back glass. Noted in Mrs. F. Nevill Jackson’s book Ancestors in Silhouette by August Edouart at page 228 and Andrew Oliver’s book Auguste Edouart’s Silhouettes of Eminent Americans 1839-1844 at page 546. Provenance: Mrs. F. Nevill Jackson, Mr. Arthur Vernay (#4260) $2250 Please see the Silhouettist Biographies page for more information about Edouart.
	Please forgive the reflection in the top one-quarter of the glass.


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