Newton (McKechnie Section 2)

Known from a silhouette in my collection. There is not enough evidence to relate this example (signed `Newton') to any other known artist of this name, including J. Newton (see Section Five). The silhouette is inscribed with the address 2 Nashan (or Naphan) Street, which I have been unable to trace. The work is of sufficient merit to suggest the hand of a professional artist, working c. 1818-20. Foskett lists several artists named Newton, but none of her entries includes this address. One of these miniaturists, a John Newton, was working at 82 Dame Street, Dublin, in 1824, but there is no evidence that he worked in `Nashan Street'. The date of the earliest Dublin Directory available is 1834, and this shows no record of a street with this name.

The extant profile, of a man, is painted in (apparently) Indian ink against a dark-blue background. Good brushwork is shown on the hair, and the stock and shirt-collar are rendered with neat hatching in thinned black pigment. There is a `shadow line' beneath the bust-line termination (of the usual convexity-concavity type, though unusually sharp at the front). The eyelash is well shown.

The signature on the back is pe ncilled in a large cursive hand and reads ‘Newton, 2, Nashan Street.