Frost, Matthew Hawkins (SCC Newsletter November 1995)

M.H FROST. c.1827-35 and the COR AL NECKLACE.

Mr. Frost is a little known artist I suspect although he is recorded and illustrated in Mrs.McKechnie see p.407 for text and pages 481&482 for illustrations. At the time of publication no silhouettes of women were available - so the three illustrations are of two rather plain black men and a more interesting example owned by the late Jack Pollak. One of these silhouettes has been attributed to Mr.Frost on stylistic grounds, one due to a signature below the bust-line and .the third as a result of an inscription on the back.

For some years ago I saw this bonneted lady by Mr.Frost, which is signed under the bust-line "M.H.Frost". It is illustrated above. It has not been possible with benefit to photograph the signature - so you will have to take my word for it. The silhouette is 8½cm from the top of her bonnet to the front of the bust-line -although it is obvious that the silhouette has been a little cut down to fit the frame. She has a curved bust-line and I think this had an obvious point at the front originally. This bust-line is not matched by the examples illustrated in Mrs. McKechnie but is more similar to others that I will be illustrating later in this article.

The silhouette is competently painted and attractively presented. The painting of the bonnet and frill on the dress are skillfully done in water colour. The face is dark grey, whilst the dress is black with gum arabic used for details of sleeve and front of the dress. Gold highlighting has been used on her curls together with a little gum arabic. You will also note that she is wearing a coral necklace - which is unusual in my view and does not seem to quite suit her style of dress.

Mr. FROST con't.

Sometime after seeing the lady I came across three further examples of Mr.Frosts' work. These were of children and unframed. All three are illustrated below. Again all are competently and attractively painted in my view. Their base colour is dark grey and there has been a skilled use of gum arabic to show details of clothing, to highlight the ear and details of hair. Gold highlighting has been used on the hair. There is a signature under the bust-line of all three i.e. M.H.Frost - this inserted in a distinct single grey shadow-line below the bust-line. In size the silhouettes vary from lust under 6cms to 6½cms from top of the head to the point at the front of the bust-line. Also the little girl is wearing a coral necklace!

No other examples are known by Mr.Frost that use this shadow-line - it may be that it was a feature that he used in his later work. The bust-line of the girl and the younger boy are slightly more curved than the older boy. All have a sharp point at the front. The older boy's bust-line is very similar to illustration 808 on page 481 in Mrs. McKechnie.

As a result of my interest in coral necklaces I noticed that there was a silhouette in the Andrew Collection at Stoner House in which the woman was wearing a coral necklace. There was a signature beneath the bust-Line of this silhouette which had been deciphered as "ERNST". No artist of this name has been recorded as far as I know. I therefore had another look at this signature and the 'penny dropped' - it could easily be read as "FROST". The F could become an E (in fact on Mr. Pollak's man the F. looks very like an E.) and the 'o' could equally turn into an 'n'.

Mr. FROST con't.

The date of the Andrew’s silhouette is 1835, which follows the signature – this is not inconsistent with Frost’s work. Also we know from Mrs. Mckechnie that Frost sometimes put a date beside his signature. Stylistically there are many similarities with this silhouette (which is illustrated below with its backing paper) and the others that I have already described. The base colour is dark grey and gum arabic has been used for details of clothing. There is gold highlighting in the hair and there is the coral necklace!

A miniature artist H.M. Froste is recorded in D. Fosketts’s Book “Miniatures Dictionary Guide.” She mentions an example of his work, which she does not illustrate – this is signed “H.M. Froste pinxit”. This is likely to be the same person as ‘our’ Mr. Frost as he is said to have dropped the ‘e’ after coming to England from Belgium. Unfortunately no examples of Mr. Frost’s work give any idea of the locality in which he worked – so it has not been possible to find out more about his life and antecedents.

I think silhouettes of women wearing coral necklaces should be looked at very carefully to see if they might be by Mr. Frost. I know at least one member of the Collectors’ Club who has a silhouette of a woman wearing such a necklace and he has already attributed it to Mr. Frost! I know Mr. Dempsey used colour a great deal but most of his work was cut and there is no ‘evidence ‘ that he used gum arabic as Mr. Frost does. His bust-line was much longer and more sloping than that of Mr. Frost.

It would be good to hear from any member who has a silhouette by Mr. Frost and in particular a woman by him not wearing a coral necklace.

___________________________________________________