Theophilus Pritzler

This silhouette has been painstakingly painted on convex glass in shades of black in John Lea’s inimitable style and backed with plaster. It shows a middle-aged gentleman named Theophilus Pritzler wearing a pigtail wig tied with a small ribbon bow.

Set within a gold verre églomisé border, the profile is presented in its original papier-mâché frame with a decorative gilt metal rim. Two names are inscribed on the reverse with one crossed through so the sitter is therefore assumed to be Lt. Gen. Theophilus Pritzler.

Born in Stepney in 1747, Theophilus Pritzler had a military career. He was Commandant of the Maidstone Cavalry Depot and spent many years in command of extensive divisions of the Madras Army. He served with distinction in the Mahratta War when he commanded the 13th Light Dragoons. At the age of 55, Pritzler married 20-year-old Selina Ann Newland and with her had two daughters. He was made a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1822. Pritzler died very suddenly at his house in France in 1839. His wife died 26 years later.

The silhouette artist John Lea was born in 1768, probably in Portsmouth; he married a local girl, Elizabeth Nelson. Settling at Grand Parade, Portsmouth, they had four sons and five daughters, though three children did not survive infancy. Trade directories list John Lea as a glazier. At some point after 1814, the family upped sticks and moved to London and it was there that he died in 1828 at the age of 60. His obituary described him as a man of ‘superior natural intelligence’ with excellent ‘conversational talents’, ‘unaffected piety’ and a ‘benevolence of character’.