Mrs Chapman

This diminutive and well-detailed profile is painted on ivory and is unusual as the highlights have been painted using an olive green hue and in gum arabic. Mrs Chapman is shown wearing a dress with a tiered collar together with a Babet cap that is high at the back to accommodate her tall hair knot.

The silhouette is signed under the bust-line ‘Field 2 Strand’ and is further signed in pencil on the reverse: ‘By J. Field / 2 Strand / Mrs Chapman / Augt 1836’. It is housed behind convex glass within a cute little red leather travelling case lined with deep red velvet. The whole is in excellent original condition.

John Field enjoyed a long and successful business partnership with fellow silhouette artist John Miers. The two men were also good friends and so, when Miers died in 1821, he willed the goodwill of the business and its assets to be shared between his son William Miers and his friend John Field. The studio continued but the collaboration was not a happy one and in 1829 the new partnership filed for bankruptcy. Field then established his own profile studio having moved a few doors along from no. 11 Strand to no. 2.