A Yorkshire Lass

This attractive silhouette was painted around 1817 when the artist, Edward Foster, was working from a studio in Harrogate as evidenced by his trade label on the reverse. The young lady wears a high-waisted dress with studded sleeve decoration and a pretty spotted voile fill-in, her hair upswept and held in place with an ornamental comb.

Painted on card with details picked out in gum arabic and Chinese white, the profile resides in the original papier-måché frame with a decorative surround, a (now strangely flattened but still usable) hanger and backed with the artist’s trade label no. 3 (trimmed to an oval with loss to some text). With sittings lasing no longer than one minute, Foster guaranteed accurate likenesses with the promise of a full refund if not satisfied.

Edward Foster was a prolific artist whose artistic career spanned more than two decades. He worked with the aid of a profile-capturing machine and travelled extensively across the north of England. He also spent time in London where he had a grace-and-favour apartment at Windsor Castle. Foster married five times and he was reputed to be 102 years old when he died in 1864 though the true year of his birth has been questioned. His profiles are invariably neat and accomplished making them firm favourites with collectors.