SCRAP-BOOKS.
_A Royal Cutter and her Work._
In the Georgian days the cutting of animals, landscapes, groups, and
single profiles was the fashionable pastime of a large number of
amateurs. Girl-friends cut for each other mementos in black paper or in
white; these were then gummed on to a black or coloured ground. They vied
with each other in cutting some clever little piece of scissor-work,
which, for safe storage, would be placed in an album or scrap-book.
Sometimes the little cutting is found gummed in amongst tiny steel
engravings, some Bartolozzi tickets, a treasured sheet of music, or
wreaths and scraps of faded flowers. The fragrance of such a collection
does not lie only in the shrivelled rose or violet leaves; there is an
aroma of sentiment, a reminder of those past days when everyone had
leisure and the polite elegances of the little arts had full sway.
The cuttings usually show groups of children, reminding us of Buck’s
work of contemporary date; or of animals, sometimes alone, and sometimes
set in a landscape of such elaboration that one wonders how so great an
effect can be packed into the two square inches of paper, which is often
the size of the complete silhouette picture. It would be unusual to find
so much and such accurate detail in a pen-and-ink drawing; the fact that
the picture is cut out with a pair of scissors or a penknife makes it the
more extraordinary.
Many professional portrait cutters also cut landscapes, animals, groups
of flowers, and other trifles, notably Patience Wright, who accomplished
much fine work of this kind, as well as her lovely portraits.
J. Gapp, who worked on the Chain Pier at Brighton, advertised pieces
suitable for ladies’ scrap-books. At the end of his trade label are
the following words:—“N.B.—A variety of interesting small cuttings for
ladies’ scrap-books.” The label from which we take the words is on a
full-length profile portrait of a boy in the old Eton School dress.
Much black shade cutting was done at the Court of George III., both
in profile portraiture and also in fancy groups and landscapes. Queen
Charlotte was an ardent collector, and delighted to have her own portrait
taken in shadow, if we can judge by the very large number of pictures
of this type which have come down to us. King George III. was no less
enthusiastic, and must have sat to every profilist of the day, both
professional and amateur. In most of these silhouette portraits the
vitality is clearly seen in this “German Princelet of his day,” as Lord
Rosebery’s inimitable description has it. The character of the Princelet
is as plain to see as if the veritable embodiment of His Majesty were
before us, and not alone his shadow picture.
We can imagine that the whole of the Court entourage would feel or assume
an interest in the pastime beloved of the royal mistress, the king,
and their artistic daughters, whose story one thinks of with mingled
feelings of sympathy and interest. Their fair faces on the canvases of
Gainsborough, Hoppner, and Beechey haunt us as they gaze from the walls
of the royal residences. How each of the six girls must have thought of
the suitors which were so long in coming! Their graceful and gracious
young days sped away, only half filled by the mild excitements of Court
life, with their embroidery, their pencil, brush, and scissor work,
cutting the portrait of Fanny Burney, or admiring the family group of the
Burney family, and imitating with their amateur scissor-work the elegant
curtains and tassels of the professional cutter’s background. Perhaps
they showed their efforts to Mrs. Delany, who was living so near to them
at Windsor, and had herself been cut by a professional profilist with
so great success—the dainty goffered cap with its becoming chin-strap,
and a love-knot and wreath are beneath the picture. Did their parents
dread the unstable glories of Continental courts for their girls in those
revolutionary days? The prudent Queen Charlotte would shudder to think
of a repetition of the disastrous Danish marriage of her husband’s young
sister, and King George would try to shield his golden-haired girls from
such a loveless match as that of his eldest sister, Augusta, to the Duke
of Brunswick.
It was Princess Elizabeth, born May 22nd, 1770, whose artistic talents
were most marked; she studied with her pencil and brush under various
masters until she attained great proficiency. There is a charming
portrait of her painted by Edridge, engraved in mezzotint by S. W.
Reynolds, Engraver to the King. She is shown pencil in hand, her
sketch-book on her knee; her turban, which would be of correct fashion
for the present day, only half hides her fair curled hair. Her diaphanous
gown is not specially becoming to her ample shape, already showing signs
of the enormous proportions she afterwards attained. Fine octagon-shaped
brooches adorn her sleeves and breast, a thin scarf is laid over her
chair, and on the writing bureau is a work basket, flower vase, and
inkstand.
The dedication of the picture runs thus: “Her Royal Highness the
Landgravine of Hesse Homburg, dedicated by Permission to His Most
Gracious Majesty, William IV., by His Majesty’s devoted Subject and
Servant, Edward Harding, Librarian to Her Late Gracious Majesty Queen
Charlotte, May 21st, 1830.” Published by E. Hardy, 13, Rochester Terrace,
Pimlico.
It was long after irreverent courtiers had ceased to think of the
princess as anything but a confirmed spinster that the Prince of Hesse
Homburg, of whose person and manners the caustic Creevy paints a very
unattractive picture, appeared on the scene, and considerable mirth
greeted the news of her engagement at the mature age of 47. The fact that
the princess was severely criticised by a censorious world for quitting
her aged and dying mother, and that as Landgravine of Hesse Homburg her
good qualities were displayed to great advantage, do not concern us here,
where we are chiefly concerned in her industry and artistic talents.
These were evidently more marked in her than in any other member of her
family, and we have read that many of her silhouettes were engraved and
published, but we have not been able to trace any of these reproductions.
That the small and very charming single figures or groups were frequently
given as souvenirs is certain, for on a specimen we have examined there
is an inscription, “H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth was pleased to give me
(Lady Bankes) at Windsor, August 27th, 1811, where I had the honour of
seeing her by chance.”
Lady Dorothy Nevill is the owner of a most interesting relic of this
favourite pastime of a royal princess. It is the original scrap-book
given by Princess Elizabeth to her friend, and is filled with every
variety of cutting executed by the princess herself. The book is of dark
blue morocco leather, 9 inches by 6 inches in size. On its silver lock
and clasp is the initial of the royal donor, and between the pages are
the little gem cuttings, a selection of which we are able to reproduce
here. Many varieties of silhouette cutting are shown; none of the
specimens are gummed into the book, or, if they have been, the mucilage
has perished. Faint pencil notes head the pages, and the cuttings are
placed separately between the leaves. Some of the groups are cut out in
black paper; some, notably the shadow perforation type, are in white
paper; and some are painted in Indian ink and then cut out. The groups of
children playing are most animated; there is real movement in the baby
toddling downstairs held by ribbon strings by its nurse.
The portraits of Queen Charlotte and King George III., the parents of the
artist, are naturally of great interest. These have a note on the page in
which they lie that they were taken in the year 1792. They are drawn in
Indian ink, and not cut, and those who have had occasion to examine the
profiles of the king and queen will at once see that Princess Elizabeth
was proficient in catching a likeness. There are two other bust portraits
of George III. in this interesting scrap-book, and a full-length picture
in black profile, in which the stiff coat-tails and dangling court sword
or rapier are admirably portrayed.
The cutting of the shadow perforation pictures seem to have been an
agreeable variety in scissor-work. These strange silhouettes were so cut
that, on holding a light at a particular angle behind the picture, a
shadow was cast by it which resembled some special character or object
group. Thus the head of Christ is thrown in shadow upon any white surface
when the strange-looking mask is held up between the candle and the
board; the child on the rocking-horse is arranged for the same effect,
which thus reverses the shadow portraiture of long ago.
In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a large portfolio with
examples of scissor-work and black portraiture. Amongst the specimens are
many of the perforated shadow-throwing type, some well-known pictures
being thus reproduced. They were bequeathed by the Rev. Chauncey Hare
Townshend, and consist of shadow and silhouette pictures and portraits
“done by C. H. Townshend and his family.” This donor also bequeathed
many paintings to the Museum. Little groups, such as “A Child and a
Goat,” “Children Playing,” “A Lady holding up a Child,” give glimpses
into the domestic scenes it was considered pleasing to portray in
silhouette. Some of these are done by Charlotte Townshend; some by other
members of the family. There is no very great interest attaching to these
amiable records of a bygone day.
“Copied by Mrs. Wigston from Lady Templetown’s designs” gives us an
insight into the part played by those not sufficiently skilful to
originate but who, by copying, could take their share in the fashionable
pastime.
The late Andrew W. Tuer, who was keenly interested in the subject of
silhouettes, wrote thus in _Notes and Queries_ concerning silhouettes of
children:—“Much should I like to know who designed and cut out in black
paper a remarkably clever series of about eighty minute silhouettes of
child life, mainly groups. They are loosely placed in a book of blank
leaves bound in contemporary citron morocco, lettered on the front ‘M.
G.’ To some the artist has written a verse, and to others a date—the
earliest 1796, the latest 1806. Inferentially, the work is that of
gentlefolk. Between two of the leaves is a piece of black paper, on the
reverse or white side being written ‘J. Poulett, Twickenham, Middlesex,’
and on another piece of paper the name ‘Lucy’ is cut out in silhouette.”
Later Mr. Tuer wrote:—“From the Earl Poulett I gather that these
interesting and clever silhouettes were probably the handiwork of the
first wife, whose initials were A. L., of the fourth Earl Poulett, of
Poulett Lodge, Twickenham. What the initials M. G. stand for his lordship
does not know.
“ANDREW W. TUER.
“The Leadenhall Press, E.C.”
Though more a note-book than a scrap-book, an interesting relic of the
laborious methods of Lavater must be mentioned here. This volume, which
is one of the chief treasures of the Wellesley collection, is a small
leather-bound book, in which the philosopher pasted the silhouette
portraits of those persons whose heads he wished to measure, study, and
compare with others in his collection, and then to pronounce judgment
upon as to their mental and moral qualities. The fact that Goëthe was
for a time enthusiastic with regard to Lavater’s work casts a glamour
over the little book, with its many pictures and vast store of minutely
written notes.
Another album, which is also in Mr. Wellesley’s collection, is most
elaborate. Each page has a finely wrought border, in the centre of which
is pasted the silhouette portrait of a friend; the male sex is largely in
the majority, but a few women’s profiles are included. We cannot imagine
a more charming souvenir of an interesting circle of friends than such a
shadow pageant. Old comrades would be brought to remembrance through the
extraordinarily vivid personal touch that the silhouette picture retains;
friends almost forgotten seem to rise up in the memory as we handle their
black profile portrait, for there is a direct appeal in outline, which is
more profound than when contour blurs the recollection.
In examining such a collection, one cannot help being interested in the
very great variety of wigs—no two are alike; long and short queues, large
and small ribbons, coquettish curls, majestic rolls, are shown amongst
the men’s profiles, till we are bewildered with the variety, and cease to
wonder that all kinds of fanciful names were given by the beaux of the
day to the special hair-dressing they affected.
No less remarkable is the head-dressing of the ladies, and the
elaboration of the curls and coifs is only eclipsed by the intricacy of
the flowers, feathers, bows of ribbon gauze and taffeta with which the
great erections are garnished. Even when there is no gilt pencilling to
throw up the detail, the effect is marvellously interesting; and, for
this reason alone, the old black shadow collections make a very absorbing
study.
An extraordinarily interesting collection of upwards of one hundred and
fifty is in a narrow folio volume in paper cover, dated 1804. Religious
processions and ceremonies, rural and domestic scenes and children’s
games, are cut with the utmost delicacy and mounted on white paper.
Here are a few of the subjects:—Carrying the Host to a sick person
at Nice; Cleaning Shoes in Paris; Drinking the Waters at Wiesbaden;
Gathering Apples near Paris; Sprinkling Clothes at Bergen; Procession
on Palm Sunday; Procession of the Virgin Mary; Jewish Wedding; The Pope
carried round St. Peter’s; A Fish-market; Wine-making; and a dozen other
complicated scenes. All are depicted with wonderful accuracy. This
important collection has now unfortunately left England.
Another interesting little scrap-book of yellow paper, bound in calf,
contains the portraits of—the King (George III.); Edw. King, Esq.; Mrs.
King; Mrs. Carter, the translator of Epictetus; Tiberius Cavallo, Esq.;
Mrs. Fiere, mother of the Rt. Hon. S. H. Fiere; Baron Rechausen, Swedish
Minister; Madame Rechausen; two favourites; Miss H. Randall; Warren
Hastings, Esq., Governor-General of India; General Paoli. Some of these
are in Indian ink, some in cut paper.
[Illustration: SILHOUETTE PORTRAIT OF A MAN
By A. Forberger, Paris. Signed and dated 1791]