Bruce, George (Recent research, April 2022)

GEORGE BRUCE (ca. 1775-1846) PROFILIST, MINIATURE PAINTER and TUTOR

 

The pupil of Samuel Houghton, George Bruce is noteworthy for the longevity of his career and the inexplicable scarcity of his work. 2021 research discovered that in July 1792, a year after being employed by Samuel Houghton, Bruce assumed control of the business due to Houghton’s unexpected incapacity, which likely caused the profilist’s death some time before March 1793. Bruce then wed Houghton’s widow in 1797 and worked in Edinburgh from a variety of addresses before moving to Leith in 1833. His early profiles are notably fine but become less so with time.

 

Though Scottish genealogy records are generally fragmentary, it’s probable GB was Edinburgh-born. It’s also possible that the artist was born in April 1775 to George Bruce (occupation unknown) and Jacobina Foy, daughter of a writing master. However the suggestion remains speculative.

 

The 1841 Census records GB’s age as 60 but, as he had assumed control of Houghton’s business in 1792, it’s improbable he was 11 years old at the time! More plausibly, he was up to 10 years older.

 

PARENTS/SIBLINGS

N/K

 

BIRTH

Presumed ca.1775

 

MARRIAGE

7th January 1797, High Church (Parish), Edinburgh

 

SPOUSE

Agnes Houghton born 22.07.1764, Edinburgh – dec. N/K

 

Agnes was the third of eight children born to John Caitcheon and Helen Gordon. John (fl. 1758-1807) was an Edinburgh Carver, Gilder, maker of Picture Frames and Architectural Ornament. “By right of his wife” he was made a Burgess (freeman) and Guildbrother in July 1763.

 

At the time of her marriage to GB, Agnes was twice widowed. She wed Glasgow apothecary and Baptist preacher Robert Moncrieff in 1784, and secondly GB’s tutor Samuel Houghton in August 1791. There is no evidence of offspring from either union. 

 

OFFSPRING

2021 research discovered one son and two daughters.  

 

• George Bruce Jr, born 1798 Edinburgh – mar. 25.01.1842 Leith – dec. after 1851. Issue.

• Jessie Addison Bruce, birth n/k - dec.05.12.1826. 3 Elder St. Edinburgh

• Agnes Bruce, born ca. 1811 – dec. after 1841

 

George Jr, apprenticed in the Merchant Navy in 1810, was made a Burgess “by right of his father George Bruce Miniature Painter” in July 1832. His Ship’s Master certificate of 1851 notes “41 years in the Coal and Foreign Trade”. The census of the same year records his family abode in Arbroath.

 

Jessie Addison Bruce is known only from an obituary notice in the CALEDONIAN MERCURY as “oldest daughter of George Bruce, Miniature Painter”. However, it’s likely she ran “Miss Bruce’s Sewing School” listed at Stevenlaw’s Close, High St,

1823-27. The address was also GB’s between 1798-1801 and 1821-24. Likely the abode was family owned.

 

Agnes Bruce, 'Miss A. Bruce Pianoforte Teacher', is recorded at her father’s Leith address in GRAY’S 1835-36 DIRECTORY. After the death of her sister in 1826, she was the Miss Bruce, Teacher of Reading, Music, Piano and Sewing who is listed at GB’s different abodes between 1826-41. Recorded with her father in the 1841 Census, her given age is 30.

 

CAREER (fl. 1792- ca.1843)

In Silhouette: Notes and Dictionary (1938), Mrs. Nevill Jackson records undated news-sheets in which GB advertises work as a picture frame-maker and jeweller.  Although recent research has been unable to source them, the news-sheets may merely paraphrase trade label information. GB is not listed in 1750-1800 EDINBURGH APPRENTICE RECORDS, though only apprentices indentured to Burgess’s (freemen) are recorded. This at least rules him out as being engaged by his future father-in-law, Carver, Gilder and Picture Frame maker John Caitcheon.

 

GB first appears in a CALEDONIAN MERCURY 26. 07. 1792. newspaper advertisement stating himself 'sole pupil' of profilist Samuel Houghton. How and when they became acquainted is unknown, as Houghton, unlike Bruce at a later date, never advertised for an apprentice when in July 1791, he proclaimed his arrival “…from London…” (as)…long a pupil” of John Miers.

 

Between October 1786 and August 1788, Miers settled his family and business in Edinburgh. The length of his stay was indicative of a success which induced him to establish a studio in London. As Miers moved to a second London studio in May 1791 and Houghton arrived in Edinburgh “from London” in June, the dates strongly suggest Houghton’s arrival was directly from Miers’ workshop (see 2021 Houghton biography)

 

AS HOUGHTON’S PUPIL (fl. July 1791-July 1792)

As Houghton was “long a pupil” of Miers, it’s probable he accompanied Miers to and from Edinburgh, and would have been aware of opportunities for a profilist of flair in Scotland’s capital. Bolstering the supposition is the fact that Houghton’s marriage in August 1791, barely a month after arriving north of the border, suggests an earlier acquaintance with his spouse and perhaps by extension, with Bruce. Certainly Houghton made a lasting impression on the city and his pupil, as fourteen years after his death, GB still advertised himself as former '…sole pupil…to the celebrated Mr. Houghton'.

 

Whether Houghton developed GB’s skill by allowing him to execute commercial work in tandem with himself, is unknown. However, after Houghton’s sudden incapacity in July 1792, GB’s work straightaway shows maturity and unsurprisingly, echoes the style of both Houghton and Miers. When Houghton’s malady prematurely terminated his career, Bruce had the confidence, despite his youth, to assume control of the business and advertised the takeover thus -

 

 

Essentially the same advertisements appeared in the Caledonian Mercury on 30 March and 28 May 1793. However in the 8 July advertisement, mention is made of '... the LATE Mr. HOUGHTON'.

 

So within a year of Houghton’s arrival and marriage a condition, possibly a stroke, had incapacitated him severely enough for Bruce to assume ALL aspects of the business and, whatever its nature, the malady likely caused Houghton’s death by March 1793. Mention is also made of “Mr. Houghton’s Family”, which might suggest he arrived in Edinburgh with kin or his wife had given birth. Either way no evidence has been found.

 

HOUGHTON & BRUCE Partnership (fl. 1792-97)

Recorded in 1793-97 Edinburgh directories and on a rare joint trade label, it was likely decided by GB and Houghton’s widow that the celebrity of Houghton’s name would continue to draw custom as the content of the following abbreviated advertisements seem to indicate.

 

 

 

 

Although Houghton was now dead, the reverse seems indicated! Whether his death caused a decline in business isn’t known, but the joint trade label is very rare and in 1794, perhaps tellingly, the partnership moved from Houghton’s rooms on the fashionable, if breezy promenade of South Bridge Street to “Head of Anchor Close, High Street” in the bustle of Edinburgh’s Old Town. 

 

With this new information, any supposed Houghton profile bearing a joint trade label should be regarded either as a Houghton duplicate, or work by Bruce copying Houghton’s style, which to judge by his early extant work, he was capable of producing. Adding weight to the supposition in an advertisement of June 1804, Bruce mentions he had “…retained all his original sketches, also those of his predecessor Mr. Houghton so Ladies and Gentlemen who have sat to each other may have any number of copies”.

 

The curious partnership was dissolved in January 1797 when Bruce wed Houghton’s widow and thereafter traded under his own name for the next 49 years.

 

PROFILIST, MINIATURE PAINTER and TUTOR (fl.1797 - ca. 1843)

Without interruption, GB is listed in EDINBURGH and LEITH POST OFFICE and  GRAY’s DIRECTORIES between 1797 and 1846. Though McKechnie notes a trade label recording a short stay in Glasgow ca.1797, GB’s career was spent in Edinburgh until he removed to the sea port of Leith in 1833.

 

GB is recorded at 11 addresses in Edinburgh and 3 in Leith (see McKechnie for details). After 1802, all bar one of his Edinburgh addresses are newly built properties in the Calton Hill area to the east of the city, the exception being 'Head of Stevenlaw Close, High Street', where Bruce is recorded in 1798-1801 and again 1821-24, suggesting it was a family property. 

 

Directories show Bruce listed primarily as a miniature painter and in three newspaper advertisements (1802/04/07), he offers lessons in the art, though tellingly, no mention is made of him in Basil Long’s definitive British Miniaturists (1929).  

 

Commenting that Bruce’s “coloured works were very sparsely recorded”, McKechnie found only two initialled miniatures that may or may not be by Bruce. She also records a coloured profile of Allen Maconochie (1748-1816) exhibited in Edinburgh in April 1810 as part of 'Paintings in Scotland... '  An extremely rare portrait of this type recently came to light bearing fragments of an 1815-1818 trade label. The sitter is London sugar baker Conrad Stahlschmidt (1754-1812). From the style of the sitters’ clothes and the fact that Stahlschmidt died three years before the trade label was first printed, the portrait must be a copy of an earlier work.

Conrad Stahlschmidt, by George Bruce. ©Wigs on the Green.

 

Given the length of his career, it’s surprising that Bruce appears to have only placed five newspaper advertisements, all between 1797 and 1808.

 

CALEDONIAN MERCURY – 10 July 1802:

Potential clients are informed of a new address and are offered 'Striking Likenesses and Profile Shades'. He also offers instruction in '…the Art of Miniature Painting'.

 

CALEDONIAN MERCURY – 23 June 1804:

Moving again to another address, he offers profiles from 9s to 21s, including frames. In a postscript, he adds he '…can wait on a few more Ladies  and  Gentlemen  as Pupils for MINIATURE or PROFILE SHADE PAINTING, and in the course of their attendance, can have the advantage of studying from a large circle of well-known likenesses'.

 

 

How long classes in Miniature Painting lasted and whether they were remunerative, isn’t known. What is known, is that a month after GB placed the above advertisement, profilist Henry Hervé arrived in the city from London and placed one of his own. 

 

CALEDONIAN MERCURY – 19 February 1807:

'Mr. Hervé …having been induced to quit London” arrived with his “EXTRAORDINARY PATENT MACHINE' in Edinburgh. 'From his long practice…' he claimed likenesses taken by the machine were superior in skill to any artist’s invention. At 2s.6d. per profile, they were markedly cheaper than Bruce’s prices.

 

By strange coincidence, Hervé’s address, 31 South Bridge St, East Side, First Flat was exactly the same apartment that Houghton & Bruce had occupied more than ten years before. Hervé seemingly quit the city by the end of March, but the use of a 'Machine' as an aid for taking profiles produced, albeit belatedly, a markedly negative response from George Bruce.

 

CALEDONIAN MERCURY – 29 October 1808:

Reminding the public he still continued taking '...Resemblances in Miniature and Profile Shades...', he assured readers that his

 

 

The PHYSIOGNOTRACE still rankled with GB 7 years later as his 1815-18 trade label (seen below) again mentions the accuracy of his work compared to the “…inaccurate aid of the fluctuating PHYSIOGNOTRACE”.

 

What Bruce thought of 'PROSOPOGRAPHUS the AUTOMATON ARTIST' brought to Edinburgh in October 1823 by Henry Herve’s brother Charles is unrecorded….. 

  

 ©Private Collection. Unknown sitter ca. 1815-18

 

Post 1808, apart from regular directory entries and the 1841 Census, records are few.

 

18 October 1820: 'by right of his wife' Bruce becomes a Burgess (freeman) and Guild brother of Edinburgh. Why he waited 23 years before pursuing the entitlement isn’t clear.

 

5 December 1826: he places an obituary notice for his eldest daughter in the CALEDONIAN MERCURY.

 

6 July 1832: when his son, the mate of the tender ‘Regent’ was made burgess, the roll entry read, ‘by right of his father George Bruce, Miniature Painter’.

 

Although the rarity of Samuel Houghton’s profiles can now be explained by his early demise, less explicable, given his extremely long career, is the scarcity of Bruce’s work. In 1807, he had advertised his profiles as '…well-known throughout all Scotland'. This could of course be an advertiser’s exaggeration, though with the building of Edinburgh New Town and the later ca. 1820 Eastern New Town, Bruce was perfectly placed to be patronized by the burgeoning New Town’s monied residents.

 

So, it’s curious why so few works are recorded, all the more so considering that, apart from brief visits by Rosenberg in 1804, Henry Hervé in 1807 and 1824-5, brother Charles Hervé in 1823-4 and the Percival Gallery twice in 1826, Bruce seemingly had no major competition until the arrival in December 1829 of silhouette cutter Augustin Edouard.

 

GEORGE BRUCE – POET?

CALEDONIAN MERCURY – 3 December 1842

Mention is made of 'a series of poems on the subject of the recent visit of Her Majesty to Scotland' by George Bruce Senior of Leith.  As Bruce added the term ‘Snr’ to some of his Leith Directory entries, it’s feasible the poems that eventually  reached the hand of Prince Albert, who proffered his 'best thanks', may have originated from the profilist’s pen. For whatever reason the works do not appear to have been reproduced in print.

 

DEATH

Being '…in a weak and afflicted state' GB wrote his will 24 November 1843 leaving his estate to his '…beloved daughter Agnes'. As she was recorded living with him in the 1841 Census it seems likely she nursed him through his final years.

 

GB’s death was announced in the CALEDONIAN MERCURY (01 October 1846) 'At 12 London Row, Leith, on the 25th [September], Mr George Bruce artist'.

 

Brian Wellings © 2022