Wilton (McKechnie Section 2)

Recorded by Mills and by Jackson (The History of Silhouettes), who mentions an advertisement, seen on the back of a silhouette in the Wellesley collection, which gives an address in Queen Street, Portsea. This advertisement was probably the artist's trade label (see below). Both Jackson and Mills, referring to this silhouette, give a date of 1809 for Willton.

In the Fox-Smith collection there is a silhouette of a woman which appears to have been taken in c. 1820.

These two silhouettes, taken many years apart, are the only recorded examples by this artist. The fact that he had a trade label (bearing the word `profilist') printed, however, suggests that he must have been prolific.

The profile in the Fox-Smith collection is a small bust-length piece, measuring only 2 in. in height. It is painted entirely in black water-colour, the hair and ruff being crudely shown and the curls at the sitter's forehead being especially sketchily painted. The bust-line termination shows a slight concavity near the centre and a slight dip towards the front. There is no hint of detail on the main body of the profile. The very smallness of the profile might be a characteristic feature of Willton's work.

No signatures of Willton have been seen. The small oval printed trade label on the illustrated silhouette reads as follows: