John Radcliffe MA of Oxford

Having established himself as a cutter of silhouettes during the 1820s, Augustin Edouart went on tour with his scissors. Each time he arrived in a new place, he found a studio space with a shop window in which to display examples of his work. He also advertised locally to announce his arrival and to invite prospective clients to visit his studio where he held sample volumes of his work featuring silhouettes of well-known figures alongside a range of background options in lithograph and sepia watercolour. Clients could use these books for ideas as to how their own profile could potentially be posed and presented.

This finely cut silhouette has originated as a page within one such volume. It shows the silhouette of John Radcliffe wearing academic robes and holding a mortar board. The neatly painted watercolour background shows the “dreaming spires” of Oxford with a punt heading up the River Cherwell. On the reverse side of the sheet (concealed under the backing board) is an additional sepia watercolour interior with a fireplace; this would have been another available background perhaps for a couple.

John Radcliffe was born in Rochdale in 1786. He graduated with an MA from Oxford in 1809 and held various position as a vicar before being appointed Vice Principal of St Mary Hall attached to Oriel College, Oxford. He was also chaplain of Merton College. In the 1841 and 1851 Census Radcliffe was residing in central Oxford with his widowed sister-in-law. He died suddenly in 1852 – ‘after breakfast he sent his servant on an errand, upon her return she was horror stricken at finding her master dead on the floor’.

The silhouette is inscribed in the artist’s hand along the bottom edge ‘Revd. John Radcliffe MA / Vice Principal of St Mary Hall’ and is presented in a period maple veneer frame.