Martha of Saffron Walden

Delicately painted on the reverse side of convex glass, this portrait depicts Martha Searle as a young lady wearing a high-waisted dress accessorized with a cross on a beaded necklace and a flower on her corsage. A pretty ribbon is wound through her upswept hair and under her chin.

Born in Saffron Walden in August 1784, Martha was the daughter of a banker and had numerous siblings and half-siblings. She was 22 when she married Thomas Nash, a farmer from the nearby village of Fowlmere. The couple went on to have their own large family of at least eight children. Martha was 61 when she died in 1845, four years after her husband’s death.

With nice costume detailing achieved through the use of shading and scratching out with a needle, the silhouette is in very good condition. Gibbs’ silhouettes were originally backed with wax but this often cracked becoming unsightly. Here the wax has been replaced with cream silk. The silhouette is housed in the original papier-mâché frame (the front of the hanger has broken off though the hanger remains stable and usable) with the artist’s small trade label reverse. There is also an old hand-written label.

Bedfordshire-born Hinton Gibbs took up silhouette painting whilst pursuing a career in the militia. His painting subsequently became a full-time occupation upon his discharge from the militia in 1815. Gibbs moved around the country, advertising locally as he went, and found plenty of work. He was later joined in the business by one of his daughters. A full account of Hinton Gibbs’ career can be enjoyed here.