Elise Herger (née V. Pige) and the Countess Chotek, both painted on glass and mounted on silk.
No. 159. Two female and two male heads, probably members of the noble family of Belcredi, silhouettes, cut out of paper and mounted on mother-of-pearl, 1800.
No. 184. In this there is a fresh variety of mounting. The head and shoulders of a man in painted silhouette, on glass; this shows up over white paper. Above this portrait, within the same frame, is a semicircle of nine female figures in silhouette over blue foil; completing the circle is a gold laurel branch. This example is signed “Fecit Schmid, Vienna, 1796.”
Schmid, of Vienna, seems to have constantly used coloured backgrounds. A fine drawing by him, on glass, of Sophie Landgravine Fürstenberg, 1787-1800, is mounted on green; this was painted in 1800. It is an interesting specimen, as it is one of the rare examples of silhouette work in which human hair is used. At the back there is a landscape drawing in silhouette, on glass. The brook in the sylvan scene is put in with the waved lines of hair. It is remarkable that Edouart, who was a skilled worker in human and animal hair before he was a silhouette cutter, never combined the two crafts.
A strange variant of the dressed picture must be mentioned in connection with silhouettes where colour and exotic processes are employed. In four examples in the possession of Dr. Beetham, descendant of Mrs. Beetham, the fine silhouette painter, of 27, Fleet Street, the face, hair, arms, hands, and neck are cut out of black paper. The vase, in the example illustrated, is also in black, in this case, as in the less rare dressed engravings of the same period. The dress of the figure is made up of deftly arranged scraps of material. The head-dress is of spotted black, outlined by narrow bands of black paper; the bodice and skirt are of linen, with purple bands; the outstanding paniers are of faded scarlet flowered cotton; the flowers in the vase are painted, being outlined in gold. There are also dressed silhouettes in the possession of the Beck family. These show the Quaker dress in folded material with the black silhouette. All these examples are probably the work of clever amateurs.
CHAPTER IV.
PROCESSES.
(2) Shadowgraphy and Mechanical Aids.
Up to this point we have discussed only those processes which entail hand drawing with pen, pencil, or brush, which are undoubtedly an attractive type of the shadow picture, whether they are executed on ivory, plaster, or paper; their backing with wax, gold, or silver leaf tinsel, on coloured paper makes accidental varieties of the one type.
Any of these processes require a good deal of artistic training, even if the shade is used as a guide, for unless there is skill in catching a likeness, or delicacy and charm in drawing, black portraiture has nothing whatever to recommend it. However the silhouette is executed, the mechanical appliances play so important a part in nearly all the processes that they need a chapter to themselves. In order to popularise the black portrait, some means of achieving it was required which could be used by persons without talent or artistic training.