Patey, Thomas (McKechnie Section 4)

Recorded by Mr J. A. Pollak (‘Fresh Light on Silhouette’, Connoisseur, March 1949), also by Woodiwiss (British Silhouettes) and Mayne (who refers to the artist, erroneously, as John Patey). Recent research by Mr Percy Higgs has established that Patey's first name was Thomas.

We now know that Patey lived and worked in Argyll Street, London, 1784-88. The absence of an address from his only known trade label suggests that he may previously have worked elsewhere, but, since few silhouettes by him are extant, it is likely that he did indeed work only for these five years as a profilist.

Patey paid £33 a year rent for this house in Argyll Street. He died at about Christmas time, 1789, at some address in the parish of St James's, Westminster. His widow was granted letters of administration of his will on 8 January 1790, only eleven days after his death.

Patey worked on flat plaster slabs, painting in solid black, except that he rendered men's shirt-frills with fine lines, dots and dashes, and the ends of women's hair with dots. He may have used a quill to paint the lines of shirt-frills; these, and the flowing ribbons of pigtail wigs, are shown with equal elegance. Women's eyelashes are shown as long and fine. The bust-line finish of Patey's silhouettes is of the double-loop concavity type, differing, in some cases, from that of (for example) Mrs Beetham's work in that the concavity with which the arm is terminated is shallower towards the back. All Patey's silhouettes are notable for the short distance between the sitter's neck and the bust-line. His trade label suggests that he produced the outlines of his profiles by mechanical means. The illustrated silhouette of Sophia Bishton is similar in style to examples by John Miers bearing Trade Label No. 5.

Patey's silhouettes are normally seen in oval frames (of hammered brass or pearwood), with flat glass.

Patey's trade label (illustrated) reads thus:

LIKENESSES

In Miniature Profile taken by T. Patey, LONDON, and reduced on a method Intirely new. And finished in Ye neatest manner.

NB. He keeps the Original Shades and can supply those he has once taken with any Number of Copies.

Ills. 1388-1391