Metford, Samuel
Gender:
Male
Date and place of birth:
born 22.11.1810, Glastonbury, Somerset
Date and place of death:
dec. 31.05.1896, Hibernia House, Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset
Worked:
(fl) ca. 1838 - presumed 1855
Known places of work:
United States: New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, South Carolina. England: Somerset, Gloucestershire, Lancashire, Cornwall. Ireland: Clonmel
Known techniques:
Cut-work
Known materials:
Paper, card and occasional use of lithograph backgrounds
Frames:
Ebonised wood, gilt metal
Signature:
Recorded
Introduction:
Somerset-born Quaker SAMUEL METFORD (1810-1896) produced cut-work profiles from the late 1830s to the mid-1850s. The quality of his output was markedly variable. For 10 years from 1834, he resided in the United States, and though profile-taking may not have been a principal source of income, several works are recorded taken in towns and cities along the country's Eastern seaboard. Producing silhouettes in Britain by 1845, he is last recorded a profile artist in Irish newsprint in 1855.
There is no evidence Metford worked as a commercial profilist before or immediately after arriving in New York as a 'Gent' from Bristol in July 1834. His obituary in the 1897 edition of 'THE ANNUAL MONITOR', a list of British Quaker deaths, recorded that in America, he first worked on the farm of a 'Friend (Quaker)', aided a cousin clearing land in Canada, and spent 2 years in New York working for a wholesale china importer.
To be continued
Additional research about Samuel Metford:
Source: McKechnie (Author of, British Silhouette Artists and their Work 1760-1860)
Metford, Samuel (McKechnie Section 1)Gallery Silhouettes
