Rider, Thomas (McKechnie Section 2)

See Section Three for main entry

On one of his trade labels (that which was apparently used during the mid-1780s at 8 Charles Street, Covent Garden) Rider mentions that he offers work on paper: ‘Persons having Likenesses in Shade of their deceased Friends, may have them reduced or copied and emblematically represented in a curious Manner. Large Shades reduced within the Compass to be worn in a Ring. Pin, Locket, or Bracelet, on Enamel, Ivory, or Paper, and the Likeness carefully preserved, and dressed in the present Taste ...’ What Rider meant by ‘emblematically represented’ is not quite clear. It is possible that he executed memorial or obituary silhouettes, like those by F. Fergusson and Dr Thomas Pole (qq.v.). It does not seem clear from the wording of the label if Rider painted black silhouettes of the usual type on paper.

Obituary silhouettes were usually engraved, but there is no conclusive evidence, nor is it suggested on Rider’s extant trade labels, that he was an engraver (though the theory that he is possibly to be identified with the son of Thomas Ryder, the engraver, is discussed in Section Three). During his early years in practice he seems to have specialized in intricate heraldic work on glass, as well as in painting silhouettes on glass, using gold leaf. He also advertised, on a trade label, verre églomisé convex glasses for framing prints and other types of picture, as well as silhouettes.