Tillotson, John (McKechnie Section 1)

Recorded by Foskett and Graves (Royal Academy, Dictionary of Contributors), and Bénézit, but not previously as a silhouette artist. These authorities note eight exhibits of portraits at the Royal Academy, 1821-56, all sent in from London addresses.

Mr W. E. Fox-Smith has described to me a pair of bust-length silhouettes, probably of a husband and wife, cut from blackened paper and with detail painted in gold paint; he said the work was mediocre. Each bust-line termination finished in a concavity-convexity curve, and the examples were framed in papier mâché. The silhouettes appeared to date from the late 1830s. The profile of the woman was signed beneath the bust-line ‘Tillotson, 44, Fleet Street’. The other profile was unsigned, but was obviously of the same provenance.

The authorities cited above also list a Mrs Mary Tillotson, who exhibited six portraits at the Royal Academy 1839-44; one of these she sent in during 1839 from 44 Fleet Street, London, from which address J. Tillotson had sent in an exhibit the previous year. Presumably Mrs Tillotson was Tillotson’s wife. We cannot be certain which artist was responsible for the silhouettes, but, as the extant signature merely gives the surname, it seems more likely that J. Tillotson was the profilist.

Graves lists J. Tillotson’s Royal Academy exhibits in order as sent in from the following addresses: 98 Fleet Street; 139 Fleet Street; St Paul’s Churchyard; 44 Fleet Street; and 8 Stamford Street, Blackfriars (not until 1856). The coincidence of the 44 Fleet Street address with the address given on the silhouette seen by Mr Fox-Smith establishes beyond reasonable doubt that the J. Tillotson (or Mrs J. Tillotson) recorded by Graves. Foskett and Bénézit was the profilist. Although J. Tillotson sent in no exhibits to the Royal Academy during the years 1839-55, Mrs Tillotson sent in work to the Academy 1840-41 from 212 Strand, and 1842-44 from 23 Fleet Street. Presumably both the Tillotsons used these addresses during these years.