Jolliffe, John

Introduction:

A third generation bookseller and stationer of London's Piccadilly, JOHN JOLLIFFE (1734-1804) was also likely England's first commercial profilist. Initially producing cut-work in the second half of the 1750s, then profiles painted on paper, he is best known for creating highly individual, easily attributable silhouettes on flat glass from about 1770 until the late 1790s.

2023 research revealed Jolliffe's correct personal and family history, ascertaining conclusively that he was John and not William John Jolliffe.

How William John Jolliffe came to be erroneously accepted as the artist is puzzling, especially as 2 printed trade labels clearly relate "John Jolliffe, Bookseller in St. James Street, London, takes Likenesses in Shadow". Furthermore, the William John Jolliffe interred at St. James's Piccadilly in May 1798, and suggested by McKechnie as the artist, was in fact a child, his name being suffixed with a 'C' in the burial register.

Jolliffe is first mentioned as a profilist in 1758. At that time, profile taking was enough of a novelty for his endeavours to be commemorated in "An ode to Mr. Jolliffe who cuts out likenesses from the Shadow at White's". Founded in 1693 as a hot chocolate emporium, by the 1730s, White's had become an exclusive, raffish gaming house in St. James Street. According to the odes' versifier "...Mister Jolliffe is a Bookseller's son in St.James Street, who takes profiles with a candle better than anybody. All White's have sat to him...At first his price was only half a crown, but now it is raised to a crown, and he has literally got a hundred pounds by it". Roughly equating to £14,800 in 2023 terms, the commissions would have been a useful supplement to the bookselling business which Jolliffe inherited after his father's death in 1755. Doubtless it convinced him to pursue both occupations in tandem.

Though seemingly none survive, the profiles of White's patrons may have been cut life-size. However, Jolliffe's first extant work is a 'standard size' half-length female sitter painted plain black, signed and dated 1762 and illustrated in McKechnie.Illustrated too is Jolliffe's most important composition, a rare early conversation piece dated 1767, of the family of John 2nd Earl Ashburnham (1724-1812). Jolliffe depicts a room and centrally placed window, either side of which, framed by roundels, are painted profiles of the Earl and his wife. Below them, cutwork depicts their children and dog at play. The design has a Continental feel and may well have been accepted as such, but for Jolliffe's trade label.

Circa 1770 Jolliffe abandoned cut-work and painting on paper to master the more difficult medium of painting on glass. His maturing technique produced a scarce body of increasingly decorative, highly individual profiles. Rarer by some margin are jewellery pieces painted on shallow convex glass.

Recurrent motifs on glass were white silk backings and black painted borders. Painstakingly pared away with a needle, these borders often evidence complex designs. Originally augmented on the underside of the glass with pieces of gold or copper foil that would have glimmered in candlelight, today the applied foil is often compromised by age.

Extensive use of a needle also delineated the sitter's hair and dress details. Occasionally draped curtains, painted in thinned watercolour, were an additional feature. Generally, profiles were painted half-length. Bust-sized works mostly employed a nearly horizontal termination. Profiles are rarely signed or labelled.

Between the 1750s-1790s, new book titles were advertised by Jolliffe nationwide. However, no newspaper advertising his profiles has surfaced, as likely he found clients enough through his bookshop.

Regarding his personal circumstances, both his father and grandfather were involved in London's print trade. Grandfather John Jolliffe #1 (1650-1736) was a printer of the Stationers Livery Company. John Jolliffe #2 (1705-1755) was a bookseller and stationer. Likely John #1 established the business at 72 St.James Street. An advertisement in the DERBY MERCURY of October 1732 records the premises was named the "Bible of Wood".

Born in November 1734, John Jolliffe #3 the profilist was the eldest son and 3rd of 8 children born to Jane née Gray (1708-1777) and John #2 between 1730-1744. A premature obituary for Jane in THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER of 30th of May 1765 (in fact she died 12 years later) relates that for "...many years..." she kept the Post Office in St. James Street.

Profilist Jolliffe fathered 5 children with 2 different partners. Evidence indicates he never married. "Dorothy" (dates N/K) gave birth to John #4 (1779-1821) and George (1783-1827). Both were baptised at St.James's Piccadilly. No marriage record for Jolliffe and Dorothy has surfaced. Elizabeth Allett (dates N/K), evidenced by Jolliffe's will a 'spinster', gave birth to 2 daughters and a son between 1790-1800.

By 1798, Jolliffe had retired. Land Tax returns and his own Will record his abode at Riley Street, Chelsea. His eldest son John #4 also moved to Chelsea. Breaking the long family connection with the book trade, he is recorded a wax chandler.

John Jolliffe, profilist and bookseller, was interred, aged 69, at St. James's Piccadilly on the 14th of September 1804.