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Harrington, Sarah, Mrs (McKechnie Section 2)

See Section One for main entry

The text of the patent which Mrs Harrington took out in 1775 is to be found in the entry on her in Section One. It is clear from a passage in the patent that some of her silhouettes (both bust-length and conversation pieces) were painted, and that she used the mechanical device described in the patent when preparing them: 'Those reflected shadows are received on paper; their outlines carefully mark'd, and then either fill'd up with Indian ink or colored, or cut out as above directed; but when the figures are numerous, Indian ink is the most expeditious way of finishing them, which is also used when the bust of a person is required, either to make it intirely black, or to throw in the features.'

One type of plain bust-length profile by Mrs Harrington, which I have illustrated, was probably a stock example duplicated for sale to the public. The sitter was William Pitt. This silhouette is painted in Indian ink, as described in the patent, and the paper with which the frame is backed is stuck to the plywood panel which is behind the profile and bears the 131 New Bond Street trade label. An inscription on the exposed part of the panel reads:

Wm. Pitt

Son of Wm. Earl of

Chatham, born 24

May 1761 Chancellor

of ye Exchequer 2 July

1783

Dans les Ames bien suis [?]

La Vertue n'attend pas

Le nombre des Annees.

The inscription is much faded, and the word 'suis' not fully legible.

So little of Mrs Harrington's painted work is available for examination that it is difficult to make any generalizations about her style of of painting. On one profile by her of a man, which I saw in a London sale-room, the sitter's shirt-frill was large, and plain in style, with a thick line edging the frill to the shirt, and small parallel lines drawn from this to the line of the coat. The profile had no bust-line termination but continued to the base of the card. This profile must have been painted after April 1779, since it bore the 131 New Bond Street trade label. It is more complex in style than the plain silhouette of Pitt referred to above.

I have also illustrated a print, representing William Crotch, the musician, published by Mrs Harrington on 1 April 1779. It shows Crotch as a small boy, seated at the organ. This print was engraved after a full-length profile which must have been taken during 1778, for the year of the child's birth was 1775, and the profile is inscribed 'Aged 3 Years, 7 Months'. The detail of the organ is quite well painted, and the profile of William Crotch himself is in solid black. In view of the wording of her patent, we can reasonably assume that Mrs Harrington painted the original silhouette in Indian ink.

Ills. 832, 833

832
William Crotch
Print, after a silhouette painted by Mrs Harrington
Published 1 April 1779

 

Inscribed, ‘Delin. And Publish’d by Act of Parliament by Mrs. Harrington, No. 62, South Molton Street, April 1st, 1779’. William Crotch (1775-1847) was a musical infant prodigy who eventually became President of the Royal Academy of Music.

 

British Museum

 

833
William Pitt
Silhouette painted on card
1785
3½ x 2¾in./90 x 70mm.
Trade label

 

Inscribed (see text)

 

Author’s collection