A Stylish Couple

During the mid-1780s, Isabella Beetham was struggling to keep up with the demand for silhouette portraits so it is believed that she enlisted the help of Mrs Bull. Mrs Bull would therefore have adopted her employer’s style so, when she established her own short-lived studio after a couple of years, she would have continued to work in the same style though she was more liberal in her use of gum arabic and sometimes used a grey base for her sitters’ hair. Both these traits are apparent in this pair of profiles so, although resembling Mrs Beetham’s work, it seems likely that they are by the hand of her erstwhile assistant Mrs Bull.

Painted on card, the silhouettes portray a well-dressed couple: the gentleman in a catagon wig with a Ramillies plait tied with ribbon; and, the lady with a heavily frilled neckline and long spiralling curls.

The silhouettes are held in matching original turned wood frames and are both backed with the framer’s trade label. Both have inevitable age-darkening and the gent has a slight mark to the left hand side of his face and a repair with small loss to the bottom edge of the frame. Nonetheless, the pair display really well and will enhance any collection of eighteenth century profiles.