Description: Silhouettes were the most expedient and inexpensive form of portraiture available to New Englanders in the early 19th century. Profiles were so cheap, costing about ten cents apiece, that an artist's profit was dependent on making them as quickly as possible. Full length silhouettes of a man, a woman and two children, inscribed in pencil at bottom: "Martin Lane / Lucretia Lane / Jane Lucretia Lane / Susan Minot Lane" and in pencil on the back: "Father 49 / Mother 48 / Jane 8 / Susan 3." The black paper cutouts are affixed to white paper ground with highlights on the black silhouettes possibly achieved through chalk. Watercolor ground of figures below. Maker unknown.
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