Wiche, John Farmer (McKechnie Section 2)

Recorded by Jackson (Dictionary) and by Foskett, who also records a J. Wicke whom she considers to have been the same artist. Wiche worked in London, where several addresses are known. From Trade Label No. 1 (quoted by Jackson, stated by her to have been seen on the reverse of a 'profile bust looking left', and dated to 1806) we know that he was living at 12 Beech Street, Barbican (between Moorgate and Aldersgate Street) during that year. He was practising as a miniature painter at 225 High Holborn in 1817; he exhibited seventeen miniatures at the Royal Academy and five at Suffolk Street 1811-27. Possibly he began his career as a painter of profiles, and later progressed to become a miniature painter.

The illustrated silhouette dates from the same period as the example mentioned by Jackson, but is signed, not labelled. It is painted with detail, and transparency is achieved by thinned black pigment. The fashionable frill about the sitter's neck is accurately painted. The profile is remarkable for its shallow extent at the back, the bust-line termination dipping considerably towards the front. Most profilists working at this time showed more depth at the back, and this curious feature of Wiche's silhouette might assist in the identification of unsigned or unlabelled work.

Trade Label No. 1, recorded by Jackson, was apparently printed. Used in 1806, according to Jackson, it reads:

J. WICHE

Profile Painter

No. 12, Beech Street,

Barbican.

Trade Label No. 2 (illustrated), seen on the back of a portrait miniature painted by Wiche some years later, bears an address in Beech Street.

The signature on the illustrated silhouette, I

Wiche', is set below the bust-line, near the back.

Ills. 973, 974