Silhouette History
500 AD
From Pliny the Elder’s ancient Roman descriptions, the world reads that portraiture may
have started as profile images – as the maiden Dibutade captures her love’s image
before he departs for war. ​(Seen here: Regnault’s imagining of this debut of portraiture)
Mid 1700's
Although the common names are “profile”, “shade”, “shadow portrait” or “likeness”,
the familiar word “silhouette” is taken from the French finance minister Etienne de
Silhouette in the mid 1700’s, who was rumored to cut profiles in his spare time. He was
disliked by those who were affected by his tax plans, chopping tax money from the rich
and reducing cost expenditures in the French government. Needless to say, he wasn’t
well liked.
Some writers explain
​
the phrase ​“à la silhouette” (in the manner of Silhouette) was
applied to things which were cheap, including cheaply-made portraits cost far less than
the traditional extravagent painted portraits and sculptures. Anything “à la silhouette”
was a reduction to the simplest form. ​(George Washington’s shadow portrait is shown here –
although he was a man who did afford his expensive painted portraits).
Profiles have a long romantic history including (supposedly) as a hobby by Catherine de
Medici (1500’s), as an aid to​ judging personality by the physiognomist Johann Lavater
(late 1700’s)​, as love-tokens by countless soldiers in wartime, and posted in homes to
remember family members for hundreds of years. Profile portraits showed the images of
their sitters when painted portraits were just too expensive or unable to be reproduced
(such as the
​ profile at left of the first circus entrepreneur, Philip Astley).
Profiles can be painted on glass, plaster, or paper, or cut out of paper or even cloth –
they truly are a microcosm of the society in which they reside, showing society’s views
on social status and economics, commerce, travel habits, family values and inheritance,
fashion (or utilitarianism), and other factors which wove the details of everyday life in
every decade.
Profile portraits served an additional function – they connected the 1700s sitter to his
Greek and Roman “ancestors”, those long-gone folks shown on the faces of coins. ​Do
you notice any similarity between the profiles on the coins, and the profile portraits of the 1700
and 1800s?
The later 1700s was the era of “The Grand Tour”, when the elite of British society toured
through Greece, Italy, and the Continent adventuring through their own past by looking
at old ruins and learning about the teachings of the classics. This “classic” interest
spurred a new excitement of all things Italian, Greek, and Roman – so much that the
“neo-Classicism” movement invaded art, architecture, and even politics for decades to
come. Ever wondered where the “ancient” idea of democracy came from? Look no
farther than the teachings of the Greeks.
Early 1800's
One of the iconic silhouette images is the portrait believed to be Jane Austen ​(seen at
left), writing her romantic stories in the late 18th and early 19th (1800s) centuries,
captivating hearts and spirits for hundreds of years. The decadent Regency period is
especially remembered for silhouette portraits.
Painting or cutting profiles by hand may have been a skill, but when “machines” for
tracing a clients face were developed, this ‘technology’ became the rage for inexpensive
profile artists: they could impress their clients with the latest device.
Whether the machine cast a client’s shadow on the wall, or traced the face’s shape, the
late 1700’s and early 1800’s were filled with artists looking to gain clientele – and
remove clientele from their artist rivals. With the heavy competition for portraits, even
the name of the portraiture began to change – from its origins of “shadow portraits”,
the common name, to the newly exotic name of profile portraits, “silhouettes”.
Portraiture continued to be popular with heavy competition amongst the artists. With
few inexpensive opportunities for personal images, portrait artists became more
widespread. Temporary rooms in hotels, traveling artists, or permanent studios, there
were all types of portrait artists. Some traveled from rural town to rural town, finding
their clientele in their own houses.
Some portraitists frequented the resort towns in the high seasons. Some artists claimed
the highest social status of the artisan class, due to their work with the nobility and
royalty. Portraiture could be a poor artist’s skill or a rich artist’s skill; perhaps the art
was not in the hands, but in the personality.