Bristowe, Mrs (McKechnie Section 1)

Mrs Bristowe's name survives on the fragment of a handbill which states that a device called the Patent Delineator', designed to take profiles, will be operated at her address, in Church Street, Hackney, London. 301 It is uncertain, however, whether it was Mrs Bristowe herself or another artist who actually used this device. Mrs Bristowe was apparently a hatter — an unusual calling with which to combine the activity of a profilist. Jackson, however, has recorded her (Dictionary) as a cutter (although it was probably possible to produce either cut or painted work with the Patent Delineator).

The wording at the head of the handbill reads, 'Notice. Thursday will be the last day [that] LIKENESSES will be taken by the Patent Delineator.' We can only conclude from this that some artist probably used this machine for a time at Mrs Bristowe's address. Possibly the artist actually styled himself the Patent Delineater', but, since we know of another artist, J. H. Millington (see Section Two) who used this machine under his own name, this theory seems implausible. It may have been Millington himself who used the machine at Mrs Bristowe's address.

The style of the illustrated profile which bears this handbill (or trade label) suggests a date in the 1820s. 300 The width of the profile indicates a gathered sleeve at the shoulder on a tail-coat, which has a stand-fall collar: typical features of the period. The silhouette (which I have been unable to examine) is painted, as well as (presumably) cut, and we know that it was produced by a machine. Gum arabic has been used to paint dark strokes of the hair against a dark-grey background; the shirt-collar and cravat are left white, and little detail is shown. The general shape of the profile is unusual for the period, as the width at the base arises from the width of the sleeve at the shoulder. The eyelash is well defined. The general effect is not unlike that of the work of J. Wass (see Section Two). Ills. 300, 301