Pigtail Wig

During the 1780s, when this silhouette was painted, toupées came to be called the ‘brush’ or ‘feathered part’ and were distinctly separated from the back hair as seen on this gentleman whose front hair has been frizzed whilst his back hair is worn in a narrow stiff pigtail tied with a ribbon bow.

The silhouette is painted on plaster and is set in the original hammered brass-faced frame with a complete artist’s trade label on the reverse for M. Lightfoot, Liverpool.

Mary was the eldest daughter of Mrs Mary Lightfoot who offered board and lodging to the silhouette artist John Miers whilst he was working in Liverpool during 1785. Observing Miers success and having some artistic talent themselves, mother and daughter hatched a plan to establish their own silhouette painting business. They may even have eavesdropped on Miers intention to travel north to Scotland prompting Mary Junior to preempt him by taking out an advertisement in the Caledonian Gazette offering “striking likenesses in miniature profile”. She also exhibited profiles in Edinburgh. This outraged John Miers who accused her of “clandestinely” picking up of his art and using “his own words” in her adverts. But what infuriated him even more was her passing off some of his profiles as her work. One wonders if this well-painted profile my have been such an example. Ultimately Miers prevailed as Miss Lightfoot’s business did not thrive for long. She eventually settled down to married life back home in Liverpool with John Payne, a plumber and decorator.