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 of a woman with a bun on the top of her head, silhouette is cut out of white paper and applied to a black backing, the portrait is framed in a pressed gilt brass frame with an overlapping leaf border, the inner border has beaded decoration and a star at each of the four corners, the inner frame is an oval shape. Modern paper label on the reverse of the paper reads: "Rhoda Alger/married William Sibley/Mother of Joel Sibley" and "I" and "E Meyer." also at the top is an older piece of paper with the ink inscription, "Mrs. Rhoda Alger, Ages 63 years." Rhoda Alger was born January 17, 1811, married Joel Sibley, and had a child named Joel Sibley, and died on December 17, 1889. Condition: the original wooden backing has been lost or removed, the silhouette is backed with modern paper and a small pamphlet held in by a wooden cross bar.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2015.36.48 |
