Venimore, Christopher

Introduction:

As far as is known, only 2 works on glass by CHRISTOPHER VENIMORE (1773-1818) are recorded. Both, however, vary in execution.

Mrs. Neville Jackson's Silhouette Dictionary (1938) records a plain black portrait of a cleric painted on flat glass. Jackson, however, misread the work's date as 1778. As 2022 research discovered Venimore was born in 1773, the correct date must be 1798.

The second work, illustrated in McKechnie's British Silhouette Artists and Their Works (1760-1860) is of an elderly woman ca. 1800, whose apparel is given a degree of transparency. Painted on convex glass, it suggests Venimore honed and adapted his skills to tackle the more challenging requirements of working on convex glass. Both profiles are backed with a printed trade label which simply reads "C. Venimore,Wallingford". However, without further trade-labelled works coming to light, it is impossible to gauge either the level of his output or stylistic attributes which might identify any Venimiore profiles lacking trade labels.

McKechnie stated "Wallingford could not have provided a silhouette artist with a permanent means of livelihood...", and recent research has discovered Venimore's main source of income came from his ironmongery business. Based in Wallingford High Street, it was a concern his widow continued as the "Birmingham and Sheffield Warehouse".

The son and grandson of Berkshire butchers, Venimore appears to have been a committed Non-Conformist with a brother and one of his 6 sons becoming Baptist preachers. Venimore was buried with his 16-month-old son, Richard, at the Thames Street Baptist Chapel, Wallingford 09.06.1818, aged 45.

Interestingly, the READING MERCURY (12.08.1793) stated profilist Mrs. Hudson would be visiting Wallingford with her "exhibition" on her way back to London. As Elizabeth Hudson only executed silhouettes on glass, it's possible her visit suggested an extra source of potential income for Venimore.

Revised 3 July 2022 (Brian Wellings)

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