||

 

Item Ref. 3715

ENGLISH SCHOOL, circa 1810-20

This is a full-colour profile portrait of a gentleman named on the reverse as the Rev. John Butt. He has a well-receding hairline but makes up for it with bushy eyebrows and side-whiskers. He is wearing a black coat with a deep collar and a white knotted stock.

The portrait is watercolour on card. It is set in the original papier-mâché frame with an emblems (rose, thistle, shamrock) hanger.

Framed size: 5 x 43/8" (128 x 110mm)

Price: £150

 

Item Ref. 3621

EDWARD FOSTER, 1762-1865

This is a silhouette portrait of an unknown lady wearing a day dress with a columnar neck culminating in a single ruff under her chin. She also has a fashionable turban which conceals all but a few curls of her hair.

This is one of Foster's early 'black profiles' where the costume details have been carefully outlined using gum arabic. It dates to around 1814 and is set in a papier-mâché frame with a decorative surround and a bunch of grapes hanger.

Provenance: Ex. Sue McKechnie collection
Literature: British Silhouette Artists and their Work 1760-1860, page 147, illus. 198
Framed size: 55/8 x 43/4" (144 x 121mm)

Price: £250

The son of a gentleman land-steward, Edward Foster joined the Derbyshire militia at an early age. Over the next 25 years he saw active service during the War of American Independence and then in Holland and Egypt. A few years after retiring from the army, Foster forged a new career in painting with early success that included Royal patronage which earned him his own apartment at Windsor Castle. By the 1820s he had returned home to Derby where he continued to run a successful portrait studio only retiring officially upon his 100th birthday. He was 102 years old when he died having been married five times with 17 children, only the youngest of whom outlived him.

Item Ref. 2996

ENGLISH SCHOOL, circa 1830

A lovely bust-length silhouette portrait of a young girl in a wide-shouldered dress with wide sleeves decorated with a shoulder bow. Her hair is arranged in ringlets and she wears a beaded necklace and a fashionable narrow gold band or ferronière low over her forehead.

The profile is cut-out and finely gilded. It is housed in a traditional papier-mâché with an acorn hanger. Excellent condition.

Framed size: 5½ x 4½" (140 x 115mm)

Price: £160

 

Item Ref. 2394

ENGLISH SCHOOL, circa 1830

This attractive silhouette portrait is painted with a touch of colour and portrays a young lady wearing a dress with full, possibly 'leg of mutton' sleeves and a coral beaded necklace. Her hair is swept up into an Apollo knot and secured with a large comb.

The silhouette is painted in dark grey watercolour with gold paint used to accentuate the hair. It is set in a handsome period bird's eye maple frame.

Framed size: 77/8 x 7½" (185 x 140mm)

Price: £165

 

Item Ref. 3353

PROSOPOGRAPHUS, the AUTOMATON ARTIST, 1829

This is a finely painted silhouette portrait of an elegant lady, named on the reverse as Mrs Thring. Her hair is drawn up into a knot and secured with a large comb with soft curls around her forehead. The profile is inscribed on the obverse: ‘done by an Automaton 1829’.

Housed in a giltwood frame with attractive hand-stencilled decoration.

Framed size: 6½ x 5" (164 x 128mm)

Price: £180

Given the date and the fact that the bust-line closely matches that on a labelled Prosopographus profile in the Willcocks collection, it seems certain that the Automaton was indeed that mechanical device invented by Charles Hervé II for drawing the outline of silhouettes. He named his device ‘Prosopographus, the Automaton Artist’ and exhibited it around England as a great curiosity. A contemporary handbill claimed that it could ‘produce more perfect resemblances than any living artist [could] possibly execute’.

 | |