Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun

Silhouettes gained their name from Etienne de Silhouette who lived from 1709-67 in France
and enjoyed a hobby of cutting profiles from black paper. Silhouettes, often known as shades, or shadow-portraits, were most popular between 1770-1860. Their history can be traced to prehistoric times, and the 'black figure' vases of Greek antiquity. Some woodcuts appear very like silhouettes and it can be difficult to distinguish between the two.

Shades could be created by amateurs, but their popularity caused professional artists to take up the form.
The finest shades were often painted in indian ink or pine soot on card or plaster or painted on porcelain, rather than cut from paper. Cut shades might be created from black paper, or hollow-cut, that is, traced on white paper, the face cut out and the hollow profile put on a sheet of black paper. The shades might be obtained from a shadow traced on a transparent sheet or copied free hand from a sitter. They might be cut without first being drawn; this required great skill.

Arthur Barbosa was the cover artist Georgette Heyer most trusted. He had an inimitable vision of the Regency world. Yet his book illustration was the least favourite of his work--even as it was the most constant throughout his careers in art, theatre design, and interior decoration.

Barbosa was born in 1908 and died in 1995. He was the quintessential British gentleman, was wed three times, and counted Rex Harrison, Cecil Beaton and Laurence Olivier among his friends.

His Regency world has profoundly influenced my own perception of the years from 1810-1820. I'd like to share his art with you as a tribute to his genius.

C. E. Brock was a well known illustrator in his day. He was born in 1870 and died in 1938 and was an artist with virtually no formal training. He had three younger brothers who were also artists. His preferred work was book illustration with a particular bias towards early Victorian authors -- Thackeray, Gaskell and Eliot among them. His illustrations of Jane Austen's books are a true delight, and I can only regret that I just recently discovered them.

His work was described as "sensitive to the delicate, teacup-and-saucer primness and feminine outlook of the early Victorian novelists" while "equally appreciate of the healthy, boisterous, thoroughly English characters of the Regency Bucks, of serving men, the County folk and the horsey types". To read more about Charles Brock, look for: The Art of the Illustrator: C. E. Brock and His Work, P. Bradshaw (no date pre 1938)

Thomson was born in Ireland in 1860 but moved to London in 1883. His greatest popularity came in England after 1900. He died in 1920.

He illustrated popular works of fiction such as Silas Marner and The Pickwick papers and many of the Highways and byways series of guidebooks to England's counties.

Read more about Hugh Thomson in Hugh Thomson: His Art, His Letters, His Humour and His Charm
Book by M. H. Spielmann, Walter Jerrold; A. & C. Black, 1931. 269 pgs.

"HERE at length is set before you the Life of Hugh Thomson.
You have in it a book that deals with the life of an artist, a man
of strong character and high principle, delicate in his happy
humour and gentle in his kindness, and withal in heart and in
demeanour modest."

John Strickland Goodall, 1908-1996, always knew he would be an artist. He attended the Royal Academy schools, and worked in oils and pen-and-ink, before settling on watercolour in the early 1940's.

His career encompassed magazine and book illustration, advertising and portraits, but it is for his own wordless picture books that he is best known. These small books began to be published in the 1960's; many of them were children's books. However the ones I love best illustrate Victorian and Edwardian themes such as "Victorians Abroad" and "Edwardian Christmas". My other favourites include "The Story of a Village" and "The Story of a High Street". The illustrations below are taken from "The Story of a Country House". The Regency Period is covered only briefly in this book, but these few illustrations capture perfectly the elegance and leisure of the age.