Sitting Pretty

Although best known for his well-cut silhouettes of people, Augustin Edouart also cut family conversation pieces that often included the family dog. In addition to his personal archive of cuttings, he kept his practice and experimental cuttings in scrapbooks. These scrapbooks and his archive volumes were mostly all lost to the sea when Edouart was shipwrecked off the coast of Guernsey in 1829. Some years ago a salvaged scrapbook came to light in a Parisian bookshop and this is the source of this fun silhouette. Edouart has cleverly cut the dog and the chair as a single piece without any overlay or joint. The dog even has a tiny eyelash! There is a stamp of authenticity within the frame and on the backing board.

The profile is presented in a period bird’s eye maple veneer frame with a gilt slip (a bit tarnished).

Finding himself exiled in England with a wife and young family to support, Augustin Edouart opened a shop in Cheltenham selling French curios and artificial flowers but the venture was short-lived and a bankruptcy notice was published in May 1826. He had also tried his hand at creating pictures of animals and landscapes out of hair. These found favour with HRH Duchess of York who commissioned portraits of her beloved dogs. The work was, however, time-consuming and so not cost-effective. But all was not lost, as Edouart discovered he had an aptitude for cutting silhouettes and, third time lucky, this venture proved hugely successful. He spent the next fifteen years travelling around the British Isles cutting thousands of profiles including many authors, musicians, politicians and royalty before setting sail to the United States where again he found much favour and success.