‘A Perfect Likeness’

The ‘most perfect likenesses’ were assured by John Miers, a master of his craft, who preferred the simplicity of a black profile without embellishment. Painted in a pigment made from pine-soot and small-beer, his black profiles contrast well against the white plaster base with costume details, such as this gentleman’s frilled cravat, achieved by thinning the pigment. The same technique has been used to add texture to his frizzed toupée and the ends of his bound pigtail.

The silhouette is set behind flat glass in the original brass-faced frame and is backed with the artist’s complete trade label no. 6 in use around 1788.

Miers first painted silhouettes in 1781 whilst working alongside his father in a paint preparation business in Leeds. Early success persuaded Miers to make profile painting his full-time career whereupon he travelled to numerous towns and cities to extend his clientele. In 1791 Miers moved to London where he set up what was to become a successful and long-running profile studio on the Strand.