This is perhaps one of the loveliest embodiments of the miniature shadow portrait, created independently of all shadow tracing, for the portrait is simply painted on the inside of a convex glass; yet the shade is there, dainty, alluring, created through the workings of one of nature’s laws; the brushwork becomes of secondary importance, and nature’s shadow the likeness. Rosenberg of Bath (1825-69), whose son was an associate of the Old Water-Colour Society, was a proficient in this process. His advertisement is quaintly worded in the small card found pasted on the back of his framed specimens:—
“Begs leave to inform the Nobility
And Gentry that he takes most striking
Likenesses in Profile, which he Paints
On Glass in imitation of Stone.
Prices from 7s. 6d. Family pieces,
Whole Lengths in different Attitudes.
N.B. Likenesses for Rings, Lockets,
Trinkets, and Snuff-boxes.”
This unusual allusion to imitation on stone is doubtless written to attract those who, cognisant of the recent discoveries in Pæstum and Herculaneum, were on the alert for portraiture in profile and ready to patronise an art which was well in accordance with the return to Greek feeling in matters artistic.
Another type of glass painting was executed by W. Jorden, who in 1783 painted the portraits of the Deverell family. These six fine examples show Thomas Deverell in ribbon-tied wig and shirt frill, Ann, Caroline, Susan, Elizabeth, and Hester; they were formerly in the collection of Mr. Montague Guest, and were sold for a large price at Christie’s. The work of Jorden differs considerably from the glass painting of other profilists, as he used flat glass instead of the convex, and his work is extremely bold and without detail, except in outline. He does not depend on any shadow casting for his charm in the work. Examples by Jorden are exceedingly rare.
A. Charles was another profilist of the eighteenth century, whose work has extraordinary charm. He used Indian ink and fine line together with the solid black work. Sometimes examples are to be found where the draperies and dress are in colour. A good specimen in the original wood oval frame, in the possession of Mr. Rowson, has a trade label on the back as follows:—
“Profiles taken in a new method by A. Charles, No. 130, opposite the Lyceum, Strand. The original miniaturist on glass, and the only one who can take them in whole length by a pentagraph. They are also worked on paper and ivory, from 2s. 6d. to £4 4s. They have long met the approval of the first people and deemed above comparison.
“N.B.—Drawing taught.”
Glass portraits were executed with a mixture of carbon made with pine-soot and beer, which gives an intense blackness. The process was sometimes inverted, and the flat or convex glass having been blackened with pine-smoke all over, the outline of the head or figure was then drawn in with a sharp point and the blackness removed, except where it served as the filling of the outlined objects to be silhouetted.
The back of such a portrait was then treated in one of the several different ways—gold leaf or gold tinsel paper was placed over the back, and was as a rule covered with a thin layer of wax, so that, looked at from the front, the silhouette portrait stood out from a gold ground; or, if the blacking process had been reversed, the gold portrait showed on a black ground.