Sit!

Although best known for his individual silhouettes of people, Augustin Edouart (1788-1861) also cut family conversation pieces, often complete with the family dog. Alongside an archive of his work, he also kept scrapbooks in which he pasted practice and experimental cuttings. Unfortunately these scrapbooks and his archive volumes were mostly all lost at sea when Edouart was shipwrecked off the coast of Guernsey in 1829. Some years ago a salvaged scrapbook came to light in a Parisian bookshop and this is the source of this unique cutting of this poodle. The silhouette carries a stamp of authenticity on the backing card.

One of Edouart’s stylistic traits was to give his sitters tiny cut eyelashes. This applied also to his canine friends though this dog may be the exception, probably as his eyelash was hidden under that beautiful curly coat. The silhouette is presented in a Georgian ebonised frame with old glass.