W. J. JOLLIFFE (1738 - 1798) 

THE EARLIEST PROFFESSIONAL

SILHOUETTE ARTIST ?

Most collectors who are familiar with Jolliffe's work know him as a not very common 18th. century silhouettist, who painted on the back of flat glass - housing his works in frames with decorative borders. His style of painting being very distinctive and therefore easily recognisable without a label or a signature of any kind. In fact Jolliffe started his career as a 'cutter' and later as a painter on paper before finding the material that suited him.

We know a certain amount about his background from Mrs. McKechnie's Book. His full name is William John Jolliffe. It is likely that he was born in 1738, but this is not certain. His date of death was recorded in May, 1798. His family lived at 72, St. James'Street, London, where his father ran a book-selling business. His father died in 1755 and his mother in 1780. It is not certain how involved Jolliffe was in the family business at any stage - did he continue to run it after his mother's death? There are records that show that the family paid the rates on no. 72 until 1780 at least. Also there is evidence that Jolliffe lived at the house until 1795 - it had been re-numbered to 70, St. James' Street sometime in the 1790's. We do not know whether he ever married or had a family - it seems unlikely.

Jolliffe was said to have earned £100 from silhouettes by 1758 - so clearly he must have been one of the earliest commercial artists. This money would have been earned from his cut-out work - possibly some painted work on paper as well. For his cut-out work he used candle light reflected on a wall. It is likely that he used white paper, which was blackened afterwards with Indian ink. His charge was half-a-crown a sitting - which he later doubled to five shilling. Mrs. McKechnie calculated that he would have to have 'cut at least 800 profiles to earn £100! So there must be many early Jolliffe works around that have not been attributed! Many must have been similar to amateur work of the period and would be very difficult to attribute without a signature. Amongst his 'sitters' at this time were all the members of White's Club - a well-known London gentlemen's club. He had an exhibition of these silhouettes at the Club, which resulted in a poem being written by the Rev. William Mason, who was no doubt a member of the Club. This poem was entitled "An ode to Mr. Jolliffe, who cuts out likenesses from the Shadows at Whites”. It is recorded that the Rev. Mason sent this poem to Thomas Gray, who made some modifications. I have reproduced below the poem recorded in Mrs. McKechnie's Book - I understand that this includes some of the Gray modifications!

Oh, thou that on the walls of White's

The temple of virtu,

Of dukes and earls, and lords and knights,

Portrayest the features true!

Hail, founder of the British school!

No aids from science gleaning.

Let Reynolds blush, ideal fool,

Who gives his pictures meaning.

Of taste and manners let him dream,

With all his art and care.

He can but show us what men seem,

You show us what they are.

Let connoisseurs of colouring talk,

What is't at best but skin:

You, Jolliffe, at one master-stroke,

Display the void within.

Mrs. McKechnie has an entry on Jolliffe in three sections of her Book as to be expected. Page 247 for cut-outs, page 420 for painted and pages 544-546 for glass (the main entry)

JOLLIFFE cont’d.

Unfortunately,as I have indicated, very little is recorded of Jolliffe's cut-out work. Mrs. McKechnie records that it is likely to have been very plain without embellishment. It would have had little to distinguish it from amateur work done in drawing rooms in the candle light. However, we have a conversation piece painted and cut by Jolliffe and backed with a label that saves the day! This is of the Ashburnham Family - I have photocopied it below (illus. in Mrs. McK. on page 491 illus. 862). This was produced in 1767 - we know this from the date of the backing label (Trade label No. 1), which is extremely rare. Below on either side of the piece I have photocopied two enlarged details. On the left is the Countess of Ashburnham (illus. Mrs. McK. p. l26 illus. 161) and on the right is the Earl (illus. Mrs. McK. p.74 illus 95). Both are painted, but the figures of the children and the dog are cut-out. The furnishing details are painted as well as the decorative details. The Ashburnham Family had royal connections - the Earl was a Lord of the Bedchamber. By any standards this is an unusual piece. It is early in date and combines both cut and painted work. It has something of a continental 'feel' about it. I do not know the whereabouts of Ashburnham Family piece unless it still belongs to a member of the Rev. Bickersteth's family.

Miss Elizabeth Norman/photocopied above, is the only illustration in Mrs. Mc's Book in the section looking at Jolliffe's work painted on paper. (illus. p. 126 illus.159) Actually she is in the costume section to show her hair style and her pulteney cap. She is signed at the nearside base of the frame - "Jolliffe 1762" - Mrs. McKechnie sugests that this might be the date that Jolliffe first started to paint. She is likely to be painted in black watercolour and interestingly does show a good deal of costume detail. Apologies for the quality of the photocopy, but it is not good in the Book! Mrs. McK. lists eleven silhouettes of largely named people in the Wilton House Collection. I have been in touch with the curator at Wilton House about these. I understand that there is a group of silhouettes at the House, but these do not 'match-up' with Mrs. McK's list and nothing is known about the Jolliffe attribution. I am still pursuing this matter and will hopefully write a postscript to this article in the next Newsletter.

The rest of this article will concentrate on Jolliffe's work painted on flat glass. Firstly I will look at his men followed by women and children. Finally I will end with his jewellery pieces.

JOLLIFFE cont’d.

I have illustrated 5 men on this page - these show something of the development of Jolliffe's style on glass over the years. Above on the left is a gent with a bag wig & a cornered hat (Mrs. McK. p. 74 illis. 94) - the earliest example and painted more in the style of a cut-out with little detail/but backed with silk & decorated with distinctive black dots around the edge of the glass. He is ex. R. Kilner Collection and was sold at Bonhams on 20.9.94. The hatted gent next to him is painted with more detail including the use of a needle - he has no bust-line termination (Mrs. McK. p. 590 illus. 1102). He is ex. Christie Collection & was sold at Bonhams on 9.11.95. On his right is Capt. Dewey, who appears to have everything - clothing detail, decorative border & curtain drapes! He is ex. Pollak Collection (Mrs. McK. p. 590 illus. 1103). Below on the right is a hatless unknown gent with a bust-line termination plus black dots & backed with silk. Beside him below is a very small gent (glass cracked) - size 1½” with a long sloping bust-line. He has everything like Capt. Dewey, but has suffered a bad accident about which nothing can be done.

JOLLIFFE cont’d

  On page 210 in Desmond Coke's book "The Art of Silhouette" there is an illustration of "an officer by H. P. Roberts". I have photocopied him above on the right. He is in fact by Mr. Jolliffe and it is assumed that H. P. Roberts is the 'sitter'.There have been other artists work that has been attributed to H. P. Roberts such as Mrs. Bull! The identity of Jolliffe was not known to Mr. Coke when he wrote his book in 1913. The silhouette was originally in Wellesley Collection before being acquired by Mr. Coke. It is now part of the Victoria & Albert Collection. Beside him I have illustrated his wife, who was also ex. Wellesley Collection and illustrated in book of the Collection from which I have taken this photograph. Also, she is illustrated in Mrs. McK. on page 590 illus.1105. She is a very nice decorative example of Jolliffe's mature work and has everything going for her Illustrated above Mr. Roberts is another silhouette of his wife by Jolliffe. She is also a fine example, but I think it is odd that she was painted twice by Jolliffe in much the same pose. I think she may not be a second version of Mrs. Roberts but rather mistaken for the first version. She is ex. Andrew Ransford Collection and was sold at Bonhams on 24.11.99 when she was added to the Shirley North Collection. She was sold again at Bonhams on 14.6.2000 and has been acquired by a current member of the S.C.C., who is very happy with his purchase!

On all three examples above note Jolliffe's use of the needle to show costume detail. This less clear on the first Mrs. Roberts, but can be seen clearly on Mr. Roberts. Note the lines to show the sleeve demarcation on the second Mrs. Roberts - this is a typical feature of Jolliffe's work on glass, but is not always obvious on photocopy reproductions. I will show it more clearly later.

JOLLIFFE cont’d.

On this page are two photographs of Mrs. Caleb Morris (illus. Mrs. McK. p. 591 illus. 1107). On the left she is photographed somewhat smaller than life-size to show how she looks in her frame with it's decorative border. On the right she has been photographed larger than life-size to show painting detail. In fact her glass (including the border) is 3½” X 2¾”. She is ex. D. S. Patten Collection. She is dressed in a splendid hat, which has lost a tiny bit of paint on the lower edge. Her hair has been scratched with a needle to good effect. I think you can just see her sleeve demarcation line on the right hand side. She looks quite a homely body inspite of her smart hat!

Jolliffe's decorative borders were achieved by using a needle to scratch out detail on a black band. The detail was backed with gold or copper foil. Over the years in many case this has peeled off or disintegrated.

Finally in connection with ex. Wellesley Collection Mr. & Mrs. H. P. Roberts - both were sold at the Wellesley Collection Sale at Sotheby's on 19.6.1917 together with 2 works by Mrs. Beetham and the Duke & Duchess of Gordon by Hamlet for 15 guineas! I am sure it was a fair price at the time but the price would be nearer £3,000 to-day I think!

JOLLIFFE cont 'd.

On this page above I have photographed two young girls. They were sold at Christie's, King Street, London on 9.11.1979 (lot 7). They were catalogued as being by Hinton Gibbs, but are clearly by Jolliffe. Some years ago I acquired some of Jack Pollak's sale catalogues - this is how I know about this Sale. Jack always wrote in the catalogues the price realised and any other relevent comments. On this occasion he had firmly struck out Hinton Gibbs and replaced it with Jolliffe -so he was in no doubt! The girls were sold with a cut-out of a man by H. Herve for £220. I think this was quite a good price at the time, so others must have recognised Jolliffe's hand. They are of the Magee sisters - Amelia & Mary-Ann, but no indication their ages.

They are both in striped dresses with sashes and are 2¾" in height backed with silk and housed in turned wood frames. I think they are charming & show that Jolliffe liked painting children. Jolliffe's use of the needle is shown well on their hair and striped dresses.

Also on this page I have photocopied another little girl. She is illustrated in Mrs. McK. on p. 164 illus. 245. She is in the costume section of the Book to show details of her clothing-which is enlarged beneath her (Mrs. McK. p. 6I3 illus.1236). This enlargement is to show Jolliffe's use of the needle close up. She is backed with silk and surrounded with a border of black dots.

JOLLIFFE cont’d.

On the right is a slightly enlarged young girl. In fact her glass oval is 3½" x 3". She was bought recently at Gorringes auction house in Bexhill-on-Sea. She was in a distressed state and had lost a lot of paint, but outline and basic details were still there. I understand she has been restored very ably by Mr. Bob Wood, whom many of you will know. He has many skills with frame making and the production of convex glass. She is backed with her original silk and her decorative border is nearly perfect. She has no bust-line termination like many of Jolliffe's sitters. Sometimes he painted over the decorative border with the bottom of the silhouette indicating that the border had been painted in advance.

Below I have photocopied another young girl-Miss Mary Drewe (Mrs. McK. p. 59 illus. 1106) - it is difficult to see the detail of her costume I am afraid. It is almost certain that she has been refrained. She looks somewhat 'lost' with the space around her. By her side is an enlargement of her curls (Mrs. McK. p. 610 illus.1219) - this is to show Jolliffe's use of the needle on hair.

Mrs. McKechnie refers to the "doll like look" that Jolliffe gives to his girls and some of his ladies. In particular she cites Mary Drews as a good example of this "look”. I agree with her but still think that Jolliffe was probably at his best when painting children. There is a charm and sensitivity about his work with the young.

JOLLIFFE cont’d.

Jolliffe painted jewellery pieces but these are rare and not likely to turn up very often in the salerooms. Three lockets are illustrated in Mrs. McKechnie - above I have illustrated one of these (Mrs. McK. p. 591 illus. 1108). It is of an unknown man painted on slightly convex glass, backed with silk and with a decorative border. The measure photographed on the right indicates the size of the piece. It is from the D. S. Patten Collection and was sold at Bonhams on 21.11.1997. In style it is exactly like Jolliffe's 'mature' full sized silhouettes, but interestingly he has used convex glass and not flat glass.

Below are photocopied some other examples of Jolliffe's work for good measure! The lady on the left is ex. Jack Pollak Collection (Mrs. McK. p. 590 illus. 1104)

She is very showy in her feathered head-dress plus the draped curtains. Next to her is a young boy called Edward Dupie. He has a simple surround of black dots and is also ex. Jack Pollak Collection. The gent in the papier frame is ex. Martin Willcocks Collection and was sold at Phillips on 10.11.98 (lot 88). He had his silk backing/but had been reframed losing any decorative border that he might have had. Finally I have photocopied Jolliffe's only known label (Mrs. McK. p. 591 illus.111), It is very small and the text is impossible to see so I quote:-

"John Jolliffe/Bookseller/in St. James' Street/London/Takes likenesses/from the/Shadow". As stated earlier it is on the back of the Ashburnham Family conversation piece dated 1767. It has been called label no. 1. Label no. 2 is recorded by W. P. Perkins, who enabled the H. P. Roberts silhouette to be attributed to Jolliffe. No advertisement has been attributed to Jolliffe, so it is likely that he used his family business to give him some publicity.