Lewis, T. (McKechnie Section 2)

Recorded by Jackson (The History of Silhouettes) by reason of a full-length silhouette known to have been taken at York in 1808. Mrs Peggy Hickman owns two other full-length examples, which, judging from their appearance, were taken during the 1830s. The City Library, York, have no information about this artist. From the similarity of the work, especially of the backgrounds, it appears that all three pieces must be by the same hand. The profile taken in 1808 (of one John Cunliffe) is definitely signed 'T. Lewis'. No miniaturist of this name is recorded by Foskett.

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The roughly painted backgrounds in the profilist's work do not suggest that he would have been capable of achieving success in other fields of art. It seems that T. Lewis was a silhouette artist who was also engaged in other trades and who painted full-length silhouettes from time to time.

I have illustrated another silhouette (of a small boy), which is also signed 'T. Lewis' and which, to judge from the painting of the background trees, appears to be by the same artist, although the signature is quite different in style. It appears to date from the early 1830s.

It is clear that Lewis worked intermittently over a long period and it is consequently difficult to make general comments on his style. Common to all four illustrated examples are wash backgrounds, roughly painted but sufficiently similar in style to justify the attribution of all these profiles to one hand. One background is in green and sepia wash; the remainder are in thinned black pigment. The trees in these backgrounds are coarsely painted with a thick brush.

The profiles themselves show a liberal use of Chinese white, and gum arabic also appears to have been used. Common to all the profiles is the sitter's long, curved eyelash. Much detail seems to have been achieved by variation in the depth of black pigment. As the words 'bronze it' are written on the back of the frame of the profile of a boy, this type of embellishment was apparently only executed to order. Gum arabic is especially in evidence on this profile.

Three signatures are known: 'T. Lewis, profilist', `Lewis', and 'T. Lewis'. The difference between the third of these signatures (on the profile of the boy) from the signatures on the other three profiles may be accounted for by the use of a brush for the latter three signatures (which are formed with thick strokes) and of a pen for the neat signature (formed with thin strokes) on the profile of the boy.

Ills. 127, 877-879