What started as simple research into a silhouette in the Winterthur collection progressed to a three-month trek through directories, census records, newspaper advertisements, maps, artist encyclopedias, archives, and auction catalogs.
The silhouette in question, a group portrait against an interior in watercolor, has proved to be fascinating, and research has discounted previous scholarship as a new story emerges. Silhouettes were popular and cheap forms of portraiture throughout the 18th century and into the 19th century. Other silhouettists could sketch from life or use a mechanical device like a physiognotrace to capture the profile.
While many silhouettes feature one figure, this piece contains seven cut silhouettes painted black with white and tinted highlights to delineate details on the clothing and accessories. From here, the questions grew. Conducting genealogical research on Mary Pillsbury Weston, I discovered a captivating tale of a woman determined to be an artist. Valentine invited Mary to come to New York, where he would employ artists to continue to instruct her and help her become an artist.
After three months of living in New York, Mary married Valentine in There is no evidence that she ever made silhouettes and that is supported by archival research. While Mary wrote about painting and selling her work, she never mentions a silhouette business. For most researchers, labels on objects are considered a gift. Other times, they only make the piece more confusing, as in the case of the Weston profile. His son from a previous marriage, John L.
Weston, also owned a frame-making business in that same period continuing into the s. Frame makers frequently sold prints and drawing in their store, thus it would not have been a leap to assume that Mary had a deal with her husband and son-in-law to create framed silhouettes for clients. At this point, it seems unlikely that Mary Bartlett Pillsbury Weston ever made and sold silhouettes.
