Merryweather, Edward (McKechnie Section 1)

Recorded by Jackson (The History of Silhouettes), who places him in the second half of the nineteenth century. The few known examples of Merryweather's 254

work suggest to me that he was working from the late 1840s until well into the 1850s. Jackson refers to a full-length cut and bronzed profile (in American ownership) of the Bishop of St Davids. Other known examples (such as the two full-length silhouettes of children sold on 26 April 1971 by Sotheby and Company, London) yield little further information about

the artist, as does one illustrated example, which has been reframed.

533

Merryweather appears to have cut silhouettes in the usual black paper, against a wash base composed of concentric circles of the type favoured by some artists in the mid-nineteenth century. The work is embellished with gold, which, although applied with a fine brush, is loosely drawn and sparse. Children are shown with toys, or holding baskets of flowers. The card bearing the profile is sometimes rectangular, and about 7 in. high. Unidentified full-length work, possibly by Merryweather, might be difficult to distinguish from that of Samuel Metford (q.v.), who sometimes used gold paint in the same way and was working during the same period. Metford, however, sometimes used yellow instead of gold colour for embellishment, whereas Merryweather used a rather pale gold on his authenticated examples.

Jackson mentions a label, but does not give the wording. If Merryweather was an itinerant artist, the label would probably give no address. The illustrated profile of a child bears a handwritten inscription, ‘By Merryweather, Profilist', on the reverse. The illustrated profile of a woman bears the inscription 'Cut by Merryweather, Profilist', copied on to the frame.

Ills. 532, 533