Prosopographus (McKechnie Section 2)

See Section One for main entry

The name of a mechanical device for drawing the outline of a silhouette, which was, in effect, adopted as the name of a gallery managed for twelve years by the silhouette artist Charles Hervé II. Though plain cut work was probably produced by Hervé's assistants, painted work was probably executed by Hervé himself.

Good painted work, varied in character, is to be expected from Hervé, who was also a good copyist. When working in his own style, he painted against a dark bluish-grey background in gum arabic. Mr Graham Thomas has seen a profile of a boy, well painted in shades of black, with the lace collar well painted in white. This example was backed with Trade Label No. 2 of Prosopographus, and is very likely Hervé's work.