Barrett, Mrs (McKechnie Section 3)

Recorded by Mills on account of two silhouettes (of William Pitt and Isabella, Marchioness of Bath, wife of the second Marquis). It seems strange that an artist about whom so little is known should have been asked to paint profiles of such eminent persons. It might be thought that the profile of Pitt was a 'stock' piece, for selling to the public, but it is clearly marked 'A Gift to the Villiers family'. This suggests that Pitt actually sat for this portrait, and then gave it to the family. If so, Mrs Barrett may have had an address in London at one time. Similarly, the silhouette of the Marchioness of Bath might indicate that Mrs Barrett spent some time in Bath c. 1799-1800.

In Section Two there is an entry on one M. Barrett, who advertised in Exeter in 1799 and is con-sidered by Foskett to have been a Miss Mary Barrett. (Another artist named Barrett, a man, is also listed in that Section). There seems no reason to identify Mrs Barrett with Miss Mary Barrett, especially as she only mentions work on glass (no work painted on paper) on her trade label. Nor is there any evidence to identify her with another artist (probably a man) named Barrett, discussed in Section One. From the appearance of the profile of William Pitt, we can conclude that Mrs Barrett was working before 1800; the latest known profile (in my collection) is dated 1813.

Three prices are given on Mrs Barrett's trade label (illustrated). She specifically mentions 'the plain profile' at 2s 6d. Presumably profiles of this type were painted in plain black on glass. But what was the difference between those at 5s and those at 15s? More detail of costume might merit the price of 5s. The much higher price of 15s, however, causes one to wonder whether some hitherto unattributed full-length profiles on glass were by this artist.

The available examples of Mrs Barrett's work have few features in common, and are undistin-guished. Mrs Barrett painted on the under side of convex glass; the example in my collection is almost elliptical in shape and backed with wax. There is no evidence on this piece (the only example which I have been able to examine closely) of the use of a needle. The transparency at the neck, showing the sitters cravat and high shirt-collar, was effected by the use of thinned pigment applied with a brush. The bust-line termination is of the convexity/concavity type, this example being badly centred. The bust-line of the silhouette of Pitt is similar, but better placed.

On 9 May 1966 another silhouette was sold by Sotheby and Company, London. This profile (of a girl) was also backed with wax, but was circular (diameter, 134 in.). The wax filling at the back, although cracked, had not broken, and was of a yellowish colour, like that seen on the later examples produced in Mrs Beetham's studio.

The profile of the Marchioness of Bath is painted with a considerable amount of transparency (again, mainly achieved with a brush and thinned pigment, although some rough fingerprinting is visible), largely in order to show the transparent material of the sitters dress and cap. The shape of these is indicated by rather coarse brushwork. This example was housed in an oval with poorly executed verre églomisé. Much of the artist's work was framed in papier mâché.

Ills. 1001-1004