Antique and Vintage Silhouettes Popular Again
Silhouette of the Crawford Family, Philadelphia, 1842, cut silhouette on watercolor ground, old frame, probably original, framed size 9 1/2 by 11 1/2 in., $1,438.
Silhouette portraits were popular from about 1790 to 1840 in the United States. The simple cut paper or painted profile was a faster, less expensive alternative to a full–color painted portrait. A silhouette artist would use lighting methods to outline and then cut or shade a likeness of his subject in a relatively short time. […]