Lightfoot, Mary, Mrs (McKechnie Section 4)

Recorded by Jackson (The History of Silhouettes). All that is known of Mrs Lightfoot's life is that, from June 1785 until January 1786, John Miers lodged at her house in Castle Street, Liverpool. Two women named Mrs Mary Lightfoot lived in Liverpool at this period: one died in 1837, aged eighty-seven; the other died in 1851, aged seventy-four. The former seems to have been the profilist, since the latter would presumably have lived too late to have had a daughter old enough to have visited Scotland in 1786 as a profilist. See the entry on Miss Mary Lightfoot, Mrs Lighfoot's daughter, who pirated Miers's ideas and attempted to compete with him in Scotland, whose identity has now been revealed from an advertisement published in the Caledonian Mercury by Miers, and who must now be regarded as the pointer of several silhouettes (signed or labelled 'M. Lightfoot') hitherto ascribed to be her mother.

The one known trade label of Mrs Lightfoot is very similar to the label (No. 8) used by Miers during his 'travelling period'. It is also significant that no profiles that can be ascribed to Mrs Lightfoot date from before 1785, when Miers began his eight-month stay at her house. Miers, moreover, is unlikely to have chosen to lodge at the house of an established rival. We can reasonably assume, therefore, that while Miers was staying at her house Mrs Lightfoot was prompted by his example to take up the painting of profiles. I consider it unlikely that she was Miers's pupil, though she probably learned her technique from observation of his work. It is even possible that she may have pirated his ideas, as her daughter had done, and attempted to set up as a profilist, using his methods.

In view of the phrase on her trade label (similar to a phrase on Miers's Trade Label No. 8), 'all orders addressed to Mrs. Lightfoot Liverpool, will be punctually dispatched', it seems likely that she intended to travel outside the city, and may have done so. The backing behind a silhouette in my collection bears a Limerick address, possibly indicating a visit to Ireland. In Woodiwiss' papers there is a note that she was in Abbey Green, Bath, 1787.

That Mrs Lightfoot was still in practice in 1792 is known from the dated profile of Edward Doran (of the Liverpool family) illustrated in Chapter Eight.

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Later profiles than this may exist, but those which I have examined appear to date from the late 1780s and early 1790s. Many profilists worked for only a short period in this field, and then took up another occupation, and it is possible that Mrs Lightfoot was one of them. In 1792 she would have been aged only forty-two.

Since Mrs Lightfoot probably learned the art of producing profiles by observing Miers at work, she probably produced good likenesses. The quality of her silhouettes, however, is poor. The embellishment of the surround of the main profile on most examples of her work is crude and inartistic, and cannot possibly be compared with the standard achieved by such artists as Miers or Field. Though she did attempt to render the diaphanous veiling much worn by women in her day, the result is coarse. The only detail which she handled with skill was the small bow with tassels which her women sitters wore at the bosom. Sometimes she added a 'shadow line' below the bust-line.

On profiles of men and women alike, front hair is often rendered as a pad-like mass, with little detail. Shirt-frills are also poorly shown with a coarse brush. One example shows a woman wearing a hat with feathers, which, compared with those drawn by Miers or by Thomason, are again not well executed, the bows and tassels being the best part of the work. I have not examined closely any silhouette by Mrs Lightfoot of a woman wearing the à la conseilleur hair-style, much in fashion c. 1787 - c. 1791, but the illustrated silhouette of Mrs Stanley shows a poor rendering of what appears to have been an attempt at this style. Bows on men's pigtails are rendered with an arrow-and-plume formation similar to that seen on Miers's work of the mid-1780s.

It is interesting to compare Mrs Lightfoot's work with that of her daughter. For details of her technique, see the magnification photographs in this Section.

Ills. 234, 1271-1275, 1422, 1430, 1440, 1441