Silhouettes

Rare Begging Terrier from Edouart's Genre Pictures
  • The dogs that I will be listing over the next year or two offer you a important opportunity to own silhouettes out of a folio that Mrs. Jackson referred to as an album of “Edouart’s genre pictures”. This genre album has long been off the market but recently surfaced and I have been lucky enough to purchase a number of figures removed from it. The album appears to have been Edouart’s personal book where he practiced figures and poses that he felt compelled to cut for his own edification. The figures from this album are of varying sizes, unlike the strict “military standard” which he used from 1827 with figures 7 ½” to 8” or less, depending on the height of his sitter. Mrs. Jackson noted that Edouart used this “military standard” from 1827 until the end of his career “except with his miniature work.” The miniature work to which she referred was saved exclusively by Edouart in this album or used for the exhibition he discusses in his own Treatise.

    Here is the cutest little begging terrier. As dog breeds have evolved over the centuries, I can’t tell you what kind of terrier it is….maybe a Cairn or Norwich? It is obvious that Edouart was using his best skills with the dogs in his album. Look at the detail of the feet (including a bit of hair growing between the pads), the position of his hind knee so close to his rump as he “sits pretty” as well as his tail helps hold him in position. The tilt of the ears depicts a dog who is happy to please his human. His mouth is just slightly open to show a glimpse of his teeth and his nose and chin are well formed amidst that wiry hair. It’s just an amazing depiction of the happy pup. In this recently emerged album, Edouart was honing the skills that make his silhouettes so desirable. And here we offer you an opportunity to own one of the dogs from his own personal album…..made only for himself and hidden in a collection for decades! What a find! The terrier is 3” in height and has some light white spots from the saltwater it encountered at the bottom of the Guernsey Bay. The spotting is really very light and not very noticeable. I’ve framed it in a really great period cherry frame with a tongue & grove construction and early glass. I’ve gently mounted the pup with a tiny hinge of Japanese rice tape to a cream-colored acid-free paper which is laid to an acid-free ragboard. On the back of the ragboard we are putting a stamp to authenticate all of these silhouettes as from The Archive Scrapbook of Augustin Edouart. If you want further provenance, I’m happy to add my own collection stamp at your request. These silhouettes will be so desirable in the future and you will be happy to have this authentication. Framed size 6 ¼” x 7 1/8”. Circa 1826-1845.

    #5886    Sold

    References:

    Edouart, Augustin, A Treatise on Silhouette Likenesses, Longman & Co., Paternoster-Row; and J. Bolster, Patrick-Street, Cork, 1835.

    Jackson, Mrs. E. Nevill, Silhouettes A History and Dictionary of Artists, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1981 (published as an unabridged republication of Jackson’s Silhouette: Notes and Dictionary, Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1938), at 98-99.

    Please see the Silhouettist Bios page for more information about Edouart.