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. Profile silhouette portrait of a man with a ruffled shirt and a cravat, silhouette is cut from paper and applied to a black paper background, the inside of the glass has been painted with black paint and gilding in an oval pattern with a border of oval circles and stars. Framed in a gilt molded frame. Paper label on backboard of frame reads, "2 Silhouette/belonged to/Lucy MacKay./Esther E. Meyer." and "IV" marked in pen on the backboard itself. Original ring at top of frame survives. Condition: Some flaking and loss to the reverse painting on the interior of the glass.

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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2015.36.47

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