Wass, Charles Wentworth (McKechnie Section 2)

Although John Wass was recorded by Jackson (Dictionary), neither she nor any other authority mentions C. H. Wass. We know from his one extant silhouette (of a man) that C. H. Wass was working in 1842 at 4 Robert Street, Adelphi, London. Since the extant silhouettes by John Wass (who worked at 76 Cornhill, London) appear to date from c. 1818-24 it seems likely that C. H. Wass was his son.

To judge from the one available example, the style of C. H. Wass is similar to that of Jeffreson, though the brush-strokes which he used to depict hair rising above the crown of the head are finer. The profile was first painted in black water-colour pigment, not very deep in shade, and the whole portrait was finely embellished with gold. The bust-line is of the simple concavity-convexity type. The piece is signed on the reverse of the card bearing the profile. The inscription reads, 'Drawn by C. H. Wass, 4, Robert Street, Adelphi, Dec. 10, 1842.'

Ills. 944, 945