Spiral Curls

The artist’s treatment of the hair is particularly well accomplished and striking on this profile. Wearing a dress with a buffon, the lady’s hair is worn in the ‘three ringlets’ style with masses of curls tied with ribbon covering her head with just three curls falling over her shoulder. The style was in vogue during the 1780s.

The silhouette is painted on plaster and sits in the original hammered brass frame. It lacks the artist’s trade label. There is light dust under the glass but otherwise the silhouette and frame are in fine condition.

J. Thomason is known to have worked mainly in Dublin where he was advertising “Most Striking Likenesses in Miniature Profile” in 1792 and in the north of England where he was advertising in 1796 for “all persons who never could procure a good likeness before, to one more trial” when the artist promised “the fullest satisfaction, or will take nothing for his trouble”. That said, he would surely have been well-rewarded on this occasion!