The Pigtail

Elizabeth Hudson was a lady of many talents including reverse painting on glass of which this is a typical example. Painted in black and translucent shades of grey, the profile depicts a gentleman in a toupée and pigtail wig wearing a double-breasted coat with deeply cut lapels over a knotted stock.

The silhouette is reverse painted on bevelled glass with a verre églomisé border (small paint losses) and is set within a gold plated frame, the reverse also glazed to show thinly plaited brown hair. There is slight damage to the metal rim at 6 o’clock and a tiny scratch to the glass over his neck.

Elizabeth Hudson (née Chilcot) was multi-talented. Born in 1753, she initially worked in her father’s jewellery shop specialising in hairwork settings for portrait miniatures. Following her marriage in 1777 she and her husband joined a touring theatrical company with Elizabeth doing comic sketches and singing on stage. Alongside she began to paint silhouettes on glass, later adding wax modelling to her skill set. Her final career move in retirement was to open a school though she may not have had sufficient applicants to proceed with this venture.