Maiden, I. (McKechnie Section 2)

Recorded by Jackson (Dictionary) with the date 1817. It is possible that F. Marden (q.v.), whose dates are given by Jackson as fl. 1820-30, who was therefore working at about the same time and used a similar label or stencil, was the same artist. Maiden was apparently an itinerant artist, since no address is given on the only known label.

One silhouette, seen by me, is in the Fox-Smith collection; it is dated 1833. The subject is a woman, shown almost in half-length, with the bust-line termination well below the elbow, almost to the waist, in a long line sloping downwards to a sharp point in front. No curves are shown on this line. The sitter wears the Apollo knot; her hair is shown in gold, and gold is used to show the shape of her sleeve. She wears a mantle, or shawl, shown (in thinned pigment) swathing her shoulders, outside the basic outline of the profile. Some touches of Chinese white are included. The background colour is a very dark grey. The signature and date are placed in tiny lettering (as small as that used by Edward Foster or M. H. Frost) underneath the bust-line, near the back, followed by the date, 1833. The silhouette is unframed.

If Maiden and Marden were indeed the same artist, then one might expect to see work by ‘Maiden’ painted on an olive-green base.

Jackson recorded a stencilled label: ‘I. MAIDEN Profilist.’