Gillespie, J. H. (McKechnie Section 6)

See Section Two for main entry

On an undated handbill Gillespie offers, from a range of work, profile miniatures in colour: 'PROFILES NEATLY FINISHED, in imitation of Bronzed busts, or shaded in water colours.' He adds the phrase, 'Children in colours, and full-length, 5s. and 7s. 6d'. The meaning of this is not clear, but it appears to indicate that children are painted in bust length in colour for 5s, and in full-length for 7s 6d (whether or not in colour seems uncertain).

One profile in colour (of a woman) was sold at the rooms of Sotheby and Company, London, on 17 December 1973. The sitter's face was competently painted in flesh tints. Her dress was rendered in grey wash (Gillespie favoured dark grey when painting plain silhouettes). The profile, which was unsigned, was backed with a trade label and was in a papier mâché frame. Presumably this profile, which I did not see, was of another type of profile offered by the artist on his handbill: 'LIKENESSES, with the features neatly shaded on Black Grounds, in imitation of Copper Plate Busts, at 5s. each'. I have recently seen eight examples of this type of work (in the possession of Mr R. H. Howorth). The sitters were ancestors, Mr and Mrs James Hartley, and their family of three sons and three daughters. Each profile is inscribed with the name and age of the sitter and the date (1816) on the reverse. Five bear Trade Label No. 2; two more bear hand-written inscriptions ('Drawn by J. H. Gillespie, Profile Painter'). The profile of the youngest child has no label, but is obviously of the same provenance.

The work on these profiles, painted on thick card, is of high quality. The 'Black Grounds' specified by the artist are rendered in dark-grey body colour. The faces are shown in dull brownish-yellow, skilfully shaded with grey wash. All the features are carefully and minutely drawn with a fine brush: those of the parents in grey; those of the children in umber. Hair is carefully painted in the same colours, and in such detail, and with such precise rendering of the strands, that some examples have a doll-like appearance. No gum arabic is shown on the hair. On each profile the sitter's costume is shown against a grey base colour, slightly lighter than that of the background. Gum arabic has been widely used on the costume, in thicker strokes than on silhouettes by this artist which I have seen. Gillespie has made his characteristic fan shape to indicate the junction of the sitter's arm with the rest of the profile, but with thicker strokes than on his silhouettes, and, as on the latter, he has used thick strokes of gum arabic to indicate the buttons on men's clothing and the puckers on the women's dresses.

The bust-line terminations are shown by a very thick shaped line of gum arabic, which certainly gives an impression of the copper plate busts offered by the artist.

Ills. 1531, 1532