Mr & Mrs McLellan

These distinctive silhouettes of a gentleman and his wife have been painted by Thomas London of Worcester. The gentleman wears a short pigtail wig, a frilled shirt, a cravat tied in a neat bow, and a waistcoat with a standing collar as was the fashion around 1800-1810. The lady wears a high-waisted dress with a lace fill-in finishing at the neck with a ruff collar, her upswept hair secured with a bandeau.

The silhouettes are painted on ivory in black and shades of grey with hatched backgrounds. There is a small area of staining to the background of the gentleman (only noticeable under magnification). The lady’s dress has partial paint loss to the patterned decoration on the sleeve and bodice but, given the monochrome colour palette, this is not glaringly obvious. The silhouettes are housed in their original papier-mâché frames with strawberry hangers – both hangers have been later secured from the front with a tack.

Thomas London was born in 1780/1, most likely in Worcester. In 1803 he married Fanny Yarnoll, the daughter of a local shoemaker, in a double ceremony shared with Fanny’s sister. Thomas and Fanny had at least six children though four died young. Thomas was not a prolific artist; whilst most silhouettists advertised a sitting time of just one or two minutes, London needed at least for five minutes. His work was painstaking with particular attention paid to the costume details. To supplement his income, Thomas later became a tea merchant with premises in Bath. By then his artistic skills had moved on to painting furniture and boxes.

Thomas London is notable as one of the few artists painting profiles on larger pieces of ivory for framing. His career as a silhouette artist was a short one so examples of his work are relatively rare.

Ivory Exemption Ref.: REQUYS5C