Ruffled

Skillfully painted on card in black and shades of grey with highlights in Chinese white, this silhouette shows a graceful lady in a high-waisted dress with ruffled sleeves and a multi-layered ruff collar. Her upswept and plaited hair is secured with a large comb. The little ribbon bow on her corsage is a signature trait of George Atkinson’s profiles.

The silhouette is set in a traditional papier-mâché frame with convex glass and an acorn hanger. The frame has three curious small holes as well as the usual edge and corner nibbles none of which detract from the beauty of this piece.

George Atkinson was born in Lincoln around 1785, married a girl from Durham and fathered six children. As a young man he began his artistic career working out on the road in partnership with other artists before settling in Brighton where he worked solo for about ten years. By the time of the 1841 Census, he and his family were living at 1 London Street in Hackney. By then his children were aged between 8 and 24 with two of the boys having followed in their father’s footsteps by becoming artists.