Newton (SCC Newsletter July 1997)

NEWTON 1814 a new artist. 

(I am grateful to Suzanne Zach of Phillips Miniature Department for a black & white photo of the work above - from which this photograph has been made.)

Phillips of New Bond Street sold the above silhouette at their Sale on 11th. March this year (lot 81). It is painted on plaster with considerable bronze highlighting. Other details such as the arm demarcation & buttons are shown with darker highlighting. Eyebrows & eyelash are shown and the front part of the stock is painted in a thinned black pigment. It is signed under the bust-line (at the far left - but I am afraid that this is not visible in the photograph) on the plaster itself "Newton 1814". Signing on the plaster must have been quite difficult to do clearly - it is not very common although Messrs. Miers & Field occasionaly did so. The silhouette is housed in a papier mache frame with a star hanger oval 3¼".

The gentleman is well and competently painted and in a similar style to that of Mr. Field's bronze work. Lot 80 in the same Sale was a work by Field so it was possible to make an on the spot comparison. It compared very well but is not up to the best of Field's work when looked at very closely. The estimate for the work was £300-£400 - it made £260 on the hammer. I understand that it has since been acquired for a somewhat increased price by a member of the Collectors' Club.

"NEWTON 1814" cont’d.

Looking through a number of old sale catalogues I 'discovered' that another Newton signed in a similar way was sold at Sothebys on 1st. December, 1980 lot 10. This was of a young girl - I have done a photocopy of the catalogue illustration below. I am afraid that it does not do justice to the work. It is also painted with much bronze highlighting on a sepia background on plaster. It is signed "Newton 1814" under the bust-line. It is also in a papier mache frame oval 2¾". It is clearly by the same hand as the gentleman on the previous page but has an extra charm due to the sitter.

Sothebys suggested that the little girl was possibly by Sir William John Newton (1785 -1869) - see Mrs. Daphne Fosketts' entry in her book "Miniature -Dictionary & Guide" page 426. He was obviously a very sucessful painter but there is no evidence that he painted silhouettes. The illustrations of his work in Fosketts' book bear no 'relation' to these silhouettes - Mrs. McKechnie when considering him in her Book made the comment that she felt he was too sucessful to have taken up silhouette work!

Mrs. McKechnie lists two artists called Newton - see Section 2 page 433 for * Newton fl. 1818-1820 and J. Newton fl. c. 1838-40 in Section 5 page 690. I possess the only known work of the latter artist and it does not seem to have anything to offer in establishing the identity of the artist of these works. Similarily the illustration of * Newton's work would appear to have no 'links'. So Newton 1814 would appear to be untraceable at present. Have any of you seen similar works or have any ideas for further research?

A ? OF ATTRIBUTION

The smaller photo is a little less in size than the actual work - which is 3” from the top of his head to the front tip of his bust-line. The size of the oval aperture is 3¾+” in length & 3¼ in width.

I am grateful to Jim and Andrea Rowland - members of the club for this contribution. They sent me photocopies of their photos - which i then re-photographed for the Newsletter. Inevitably there has been some loss of definition in the process and some detail does not come out - I am sorry about this. The background also appears to be a beigy/yellow but in fact it is quite a ‘clean’ creamy colour.

The silhouette is painted on card with a black base colour. Gold highlighting has been used on his hair, the upper edge of his jacket collar, on his shoulder and two buttons. This can be seen on the photo - but what cannot be seen is an unusual feature - i.e. silver criss crossing over the lapel of his jacket (i.e. below the notch) - also on his stock and parts of the body of the jacket. Silver has been used with the gold on his hair and also t show his sideburns. It looks as if the silver highlighting is done with paint and not a silver pencil. This detail is quite unusual and it would be nice to know if any of you have an example with similar ‘detail’. The eyebrow is shown and also a very sweeping eyelash!

The work is housed in a papier mach frame with an emblem hanger. I should think it was painted about 1840 from the style of the clothing and hair. It could have been painted a little earlier. There is no attribution of any kind on it. It is clearly painted by a professional artist. Please let me know if you have any ‘ideas’.