Wass, John (McKechnie Section 2)

Recorded by Jackson (Dictionary), who mentions a profile of a woman, dated February 1823, owned by Mr Alfred Doxey Wass (probably a descendant of the artist). This example bore the address 76 Cornhill, as does another profile of a woman (illustrated; c. 1818-20) in my collection. The brushwork on the other illustrated profile (of a man; unsigned) is so similar to that of the signed pieces that it seems certain to be by Wass, and to have been taken, to judge by the sitter's costume, during the early 1820s.

Wass was probably the father of C. H. Wass (q.v.). Little work by these artists has been seen, and no trade label of either artist is known.

John Wass painted in dark grey (sometimes of a bluish hue) on card. Details around the necks of his sitters, however, are not painted in this colour but in thinned black water-colour. The detail on the rest of Wass's profiles is painted in gum arabic, the darker lines produced by this medium showing up well against the grey background, which appears to have been applied in body colour. Hair on the main parts of the profile is painted in gum arabic; outside the profile, in matching water-colour.

As Wass was working in the early 1820s, when sleeves which were full at the shoulder were beginning to come into fashion, his profiles are necessarily rather wide at the bottom.

His work somewhat resembles that of the artist J. H. Gillespie (q.v.). Unlike Gillespie, however, Wass did not use a fan-shaped group of strokes to indicate the separation of the arm at the base of the profile. Gillespie's base colour, moreover, was less bluish in tone than Wass's.

No full-length work by Wass seems to have been recorded.

The only signed silhouette which I have seen (it is in my collection) is signed on the reverse, 'By J.Wass/76, Cornhill.'

Ills. 946-948