[ABOVE] Self-Portrait of the artist August Edouart in the act of cutting a silhouette portrait from black paper (1828). Augustin Edouart (1789-1861) was a French-born portrait artist who arrived in England around 1814. Edouart spent 15 years touring England, producing thousands of full-length silhouette portraits by cutting profile likenesses from black paper with scissors. For 3 years (1829-1832), Edouart was based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Between 1839 and 1849, August Edouart toured the United States, producing nearly 4,000 silhouette portraits. August Edouart returned to France at the end of his career.

[ABOVE] Silhouette Profile Portrait of Frederick Stahlschmidt (1792-1855) by Edgar Adolphe [1842]. Born as Friedrich Ludwig Christoph Stahlschmidt  in Hanover, Germany in 1792, Frederick Stahlschmidt settled in England in 1813. Frederick Stahlschmidt was a wealthy Custom House Agent and was a partner in the shipping firm Drolenvaux & Stahlschmidt. When Edgar Adolphe produced this portrait, Frederick Stahlschmidt had his family home in Peckham Grove, Camberwell, South London. Presumably, the Stahlschmidt family were visiting Brighton when Edgar Adolphe produced a pair of silhouette portraits depicting Frederick Stahlschmidt and his wife, Sophia. This profile portrait is painted on card with blue-grey highlights. The artist has signed the portrait "Adolphe" below the bust-line. Monsieur Adolphe charged 3s 6d for a bust-length profile.

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Monsieur Adolphe, "Art Photographer and Miniature Painter" of 75 Grafton Street, Dublin, taken from the reverse of a carte-de-visite photograph produced by Edgar Adolphe around 1862.

Edgar Adolphe was born in France around 1808, the son of James T. J. Adolphe, a Captain in the 14th Light Dragoons. It appears that Edgar Adolphe arrived in England around 1832. Adolphe claimed to have been "Miniature Painter and Profilist to Louis Philippe, King of France" so presumably he did not leave France for England until after 1830. [Louis Philippe was proclaimed King of France in August 1830].

By the early 1830s, Edgar Adolphe was working as a portrait painter, miniaturist and profilist in England and Wales. Between 1834 and 1838, Monsieur Adolphe was working as a drawing master in Swansea, teaching calligraphy and the art of painting silhouettes and miniatures.

From Swansea in Wales, Edgar Adolphe travelled to the Sussex seaside resort of Brighton, where he established himself as a professional artist specialising in the painting of small full-length portraits, miniatures and profiles. In 1838, Monsieur Edgar Adolphe is recorded as an "Artist" residing at 79 King's Road, Brighton. When Leppard's Directory of Brighton and Pigot & Co.'s Directory of Sussex were published in 1839 and 1840, Edgar Adolphe was listed as an "Artist" at 113 St. James's Street, Brighton.

In 1840, Edgar Adolphe found himself in a Sussex prison after being found guilty of libel. In an official document prepared for the House of Lords, it was reported that the imprisoned artist had requested certain privileges, including "the use of his palette and materials, for completing some unfinished portraits":

It appears that Edgar Adolphe was already married to a French woman when he arrived in England. When the census was taken on on 7th June 1841, Edgar Adolphe and his wife, Eloise, were recorded at a house in East Street, Brighton. On the 1841 census return, Edgar Adolphe is described as an "Artist", aged 32, and his place of birth is given as "France". Madame Eloise Adolphe, Edgar's wife, gives her age as 30 and her birthplace as "France". At a court hearing held some 22 years later, Edgar Adolphe revealed that his wife's maiden name was Eloise Giles.

During the early 1840s, Edgar Adolphe was working as an "Artist" at No. 4 East Street, Brighton, a building which Monsieur Adolphe dubbed the "Manographic Institution". In a Brighton street directory published in 1845, Edgar Adolphe is recorded as a "Portrait Painter" at 4 East Street, Brighton. Edgar's wife, Mrs Eloise Adolphe, is listed in the same street directory as a "Tobacconist" at 4 East Street, Brighton. This was the last time that Edgar Adolphe is mentioned as an artist in Brighton.

Edgar Adolphe re-appears as an artist and photographer in Dublin, Ireland, in the mid-1850s. On 15th November 1856, at St Thomas's Church, Dublin, Edgar Adolphe married Margaret Phibbs, the daughter of William H. Phibbs. The registration of the marriage indicates that both the groom and bride told the Registrar that they had been previously widowed, yet there is a suggestion that Monsieur Adolphe's first wife was still alive when the wedding ceremony took place. In 1863, Edgar Adolphe took legal action against his 2nd wife (Madame Margaret Adolphe) for "willfully and maliciously publishing a certain libel on him in a printed handbill." It appears that Edgar's second wife was offering a reward of £50 for information concerning a female who was alleged "to be the former wife of Edgar Adolphe" and who, Margaret believed, was alive when she (Margaret Phibbs) married Monsieur Adolphe in November 1856. (Madame Margaret Adolphe suggested that Edgar's first wife, Madame Eloise Adolphe, had been living under the protection of another artist at the time of her marriage to Edgar Adolphe in November 1856).

By 1860, Edgar Adolphe was working as a portrait photographer in Dublin. Between 1860 and 1864, Edgar Adolphe was operating a photographic portrait studio, under the sign of the "Golden Palette", at 75 Grafton Street, Dublin. [ In 1864, Edgar Adolphe, described as "a photographer in Grafton Street", wrote a letter to The Dublin Builder, an Irish trade magazine, to complain that Dublin Corporation had made him remove a sign of a "Golden Palette"( which had cost him five pounds) from over his business premises]. By 1878, Edgar Adolphe had removed his photographic studio to 9 Westmoreland Street, Dublin.

On 3rd March 1879, Edgar Adolphe married for the 3rd time. Edgar's new wife was Mary Fitzpatrick, the daughter of Edward Fitzpatrick, an Irish farmer. The Marriage Register of St Andrew's Church, Dublin, records that Edgar Adolphe was an "Artist" by occupation and that he was residing at 9 Westmoreland Street, Dublin, the location of the photographic studio known as the "Golden Palette".

The death of "Edgar Adolfe" (Edgar Adolphe) was recorded in South Dublin during the 4th Quarter of 1890. Edgar's estimated age at death was 74, yet the former portrait painter and profilist would have been 81 or 82 years of age at the time of his death.

Silhouette Profile Portraits by Edgar Adolphe of Brighton

[ABOVE] Detail of a Silhouette Profile Portrait of a young woman by Edgar Adolphe (c1840). Adolphe's silhouette portraits were painted in watercolour on card rather than being cut from black paper. Edgar Adolphe often protected his brushwork with wax and sometimes he employed a rounded, convex glass to present his work. Active in Brighton between 1838 and 1845, Edgar Adolphe worked from 79 King's Road (1838), 113 St James's Street (1839-1840) and 4 East Street, Brighton (1841-1845).

[ABOVE] Silhouette Profile Portrait of a Lady wearing a Bonnet, painted by Edgar Adolphe (c1840). Adolphe often painted his silhouette profiles in a greenish tint, generally highlighting costume details with a blue-grey pigment suspended in gum arabic. Items of jewellery were sometimes painted in gold. As was his custom, the artist has signed the portrait "Adolphe" just below the bottom edge of the portrait. Monsieur Adolphe charged 3s 6d for a bust-length profile like this one. For 5 shillings the portrait could be housed in a maple wood frame.

[ABOVE] A full-length silhouette portrait of a gentleman produced by John Gapp of the Chain Pier, Brighton (c1838). A written inscription identifies the subject as the politician Sir Benjamin Hawes (1797-1862). [PHOTO: Personalia ]

John Gapp was a profile artist who worked in Brighton "at the Third Tower in the centre of the Chain Pier" from around 1828 or even earlier. John Gapp cut full-length portraits from black surface paper, which he then pasted on white or light-coloured cards. Mr Gapp would paint a base behind the figure's feet to give the impression that they were standing on the ground.

In his publicity, John Gapp emphasised that he produced "likenesses from the scissors only". Mr Gapp had supreme confidence in his abilities as the following extract from one of his trade labels demonstrates:

John Gapp's trade labels also detail the scale of charges for his cut profiles:

On his trade labels, John Gapp is at pains to point out that "he has no connexion with any other person", which suggests he was trying to distance himself from Edward Haines, his main competitor on the Chain Pier. Edward Haines, who described himself as a Scissorgraphist", also cut profiles on Brighton's Suspension Pier, but he was based "in the first left-hand Tower on the Chain Pier", whereas John Gapp operated initially at P. S. Sampson's Royal Saloon (a small bookshop) and subsequently "at the Third Tower on the Chain Pier".

[ABOVE] A full-length silhouette portrait of a woman holding a letter or handkerchief, produced by John Gapp of the Chain Pier, Brighton (c1838).

Silhouette Profile Portraits by J. Gapp of Brighton

[ABOVE] A label taken from the reverse of a full-length silhouette portrait produced by John Gapp at the Third Tower, Chain Pier, Brighton (c1830).

[ABOVE] The publicity on a label pasted on the reverse of a full-length silhouette portrait produced by John Gapp at Sampson's Royal Saloon, Chain Pier, Brighton (c1830).

[ABOVE] A full-length silhouette portrait of woman holding a book cut from black paper  by John Gapp of Sampson's Royal Saloon, Chain Pier, Brighton (c1830).

Sources and Acknowledgements

FAMILY CONTACTS: Teresa Larkin [descended from Edward Haines through his youngest son Harry Haines (born 1853)] ; Mike Munson [descended from Edward Haines] Bev Young [descended from Edward Haines through Haines' second wife Henrietta Smith]

WEBSITES: Silhouette Parlour (Charles Burns); Free BMD; Family Search;

There is evidence that George Azariah Lloyd was working as an artist during the 1840s. In 1846, George Azariah Lloyd, then aged 25, fathered a child. The baby boy was named "George Azariah Lloyd" after his father. George Azariah Lloyd junior was born in Staines, Middlesex on 19th September 1846. On George junior's birth certificate, George Azariah Lloyd's's occupation is given as "Artist". A couple of years later, on 4th December 1848, George Azariah Lloyd married fellow artist Elizabeth Clark (born c1827, Coventry, Warwickshire) in the city of Bristol. Elizabeth Clark was the daughter of Elizabeth and John Carter Clark, a watchmaker from Coventry and was Christened in Coventry on 24th February, 1828. On their marriage certificate, George Azariah Lloyd and his bride Elizabeth Clark are both described as artists.

George Azariah Lloyd earned a living by making portraits either by painting likenesses or, more usually, by cutting profiles from black paper. It appears that as a young man, George Azariah Lloyd earned his livelihood as an itinerant or a travelling artist. In the mid 1840s, George Lloyd was working as an artist in the London area. At the time of his marriage in 1848, George Lloyd was in Bristol. A son, William Lloyd, was born in 1849, when George and Elizabeth were living at Lichfield in Staffordshire. By 1850, the Lloyds were back in the Bristol area. A daughter named Elizabeth Lloyd was born at Clevedon, near Bristol around this time. When the 1851 census was taken, George Azariah Lloyd and his family were recorded at an address in Plymouth St Andrew in Devon. George A. Lloyd is described as an "Artist" on the 1851 census return.

Sometime between 1851 and 1853, the Lloyds returned to Somerset and had made their home in the district of Bedminster, one mile south of the city of Bristol. George's fourth child, Mary Ann Lloyd, was born at Bedminster in 1853 and another daughter, Emily Lloyd was born at Regent Road, Bedminster in 1856.

By 1861, George Azariah Lloyd and his family were living in London, where a son Thomas Lloyd was born. The 1861 census records George A. Lloyd and his family at 22 Princes Row, Westminster, London. George Lloyd gives his profession as "Artist" and his wife Elizabeth is described as a "Nurse". Six children are listed on the 1861 census return - George (junior), aged 14, William, aged 12, young Elizabeth, aged 10, Mary Ann, aged 8, Emily, aged 5, and baby Thomas.

G. A. Lloyd in Brighton and other Sussex Seaside Resorts

After a period as an itinerant artist, George Azariah Lloyd settled in the Sussex seaside resort of Brighton around 1863. G. A. Lloyd is recorded as a "Profile Artist" based at 10 Bedford Buildings, Bedford Street, Brighton.

George Azariah Lloyd was one of several artists who worked as profilists or silhouette cutters on Brighton's Chain Pier in the mid 19th century. It appears that Lloyd was creating "profiles" on the Chain Pier in the mid 1860s. A couple of years later, around 1868, Lloyd added photography to his more traditional portrait making skills. G. A. Lloyd is listed as a "Photographic Artist" at 3a Chain Pier, Brighton in the Brighton trade and street directories published in1868 and 1869. George Azariah Lloyd was probably still living in Brighton in the early Summer of 1869, when the marriage of his son George Lloyd junior took place in the town. [George Azariah Lloyd (junior) married widow Mrs Jane Angelina Brown in Brighton on 5th July 1869].

By early August 1869, George Azariah Lloyd was working as a "Photographic Artist and Profilist" in the West Sussex seaside resort of Littlehampton. In the first ever issue of The Littlehampton News, dated 7th August 1869, Lloyd announced that he was making portraits at premises "next door to Mr Staples' Fancy Shop", located near the Congregational Church in Littlehampton.

By 1871, George Azariah Lloyd  was back in Brighton. At the time of the 1871 census, George Lloyd was living with his wife Elizabeth and four of their children at 10 Bedford Buildings, Kemptown, Brighton. George Lloyd is recorded as a "Photographer" on the census return. Emily Lloyd, George's fifteen year old daughter, is described as an assistant in her father's photography business. There had been two additions to the Lloyd family since their arrival in Brighton - James Lloyd (born 1863) and John Lloyd (born 1865).

At the end of February 1873, George Lloyd applied to the Brighton Watch Committee for permission to have a stand on Brighton seafront, "where he may earn a livelihood by cutting profiles". On 3rd March 1873, the Brighton Watch Committee came to the conclusion that "the application cannot be entertained" and refused Lloyd's request.

After the rejection of his application for a licence in Brighton, George Lloyd moved on to Worthing, where he briefly operated as a photographer at 23 North Street, Worthing. The 1874 edition of The Post Office Directory of Sussex lists George Lloyd as a photographer at North Street, Worthing.

[LEFT] The signature of George Azariah Lloyd as inscribed in ink on the reverse of a carte-de-visite photograph he took around 1873. George A. Lloyd , Edward Haines and Edgar Adolphe, together with other profile artists, turned to photography when the demand for silhouette likenesses fell.

After a short period in Worthing, George Lloyd and his wife returned to Brighton. On 21st March 1878, George's wife, Elizabeth, died in Brighton at the age of 50. Elizabeth Lloyd had been paralysed and had died from tubercular meningitis at the Brighton Workhouse Infirmary. At the time of Elizabeth's death, George Azariah was earning his living as a "Profilist".

The 1881 census records George Lloyd as a widower, living at the Lambeth home of his younger brother Frederick Edwin Lloyd (born 1824, Westminster), who had also recently lost his own wife, Emma Lloyd (c1834-1879). Frederick Edwin Lloyd (entered as 'Edwin Lloyd' on the census return), the Head of Household at 2 Newport Street, Lambeth, was employed as a maker of gas lamp shades and was providing for four motherless children, whose ages ranged from ten to two. George Azariah Lloyd is described on the census return as an "Artist in Paintings", aged 60.

While living in London, George Azariah Lloyd made the acquaintance of a widow named Ann Newton, who was eventually to become his second wife. George Azariah Lloyd married Ann Newton on 24th December 1884 at St Andrew's Church, Canal Road, Hoxton, in the London district of Shoreditch. On the marriage certificate, sixty-three year old George gives his profession as "Portrait Painter".

George Lloyd, accompanied by his second wife, returned to live in Brighton. Towards the end of his life, George Lloyd lived at 4 Sussex Terrace, Brighton. Early in 1900, George Lloyd was admitted to the Infirmary attached to the Brighton Workhouse in Elm Grove. George Azariah Lloyd died of bronchitis and bladder cancer in the Workhouse Infirmary on 11th February 1900, at the age of 79.

Sources and Acknowledgements

FAMILY CONTACTS: Janey Haselden [descended from George Azariah Lloyd ] 

WEBSITES: Silhouette Parlour (Charles Burns); Free BMD; Family Search;

J. Neville was a London artist based at 393 Oxford Street, London, who occasionally toured the towns of Sussex, painting silhouette profile portraits of the local inhabitants. Sometime around 1818, J. Neville was in Hastings, staying in apartments above Mr Payne's pastry shop in High Street, Hastings. A trade label on the reverse of one of the portraits he painted during this period reads:

Around 1830, J. Neville arrived in Brighton, taking up temporary residence at 4 Pool Lane, Brighton. It appears that although the artist originated from London, he would tour the seaside towns of Sussex and the provincial towns in East Anglia during the summer season.

J. Neville painted his profile portraits in watercolour on black card, favouring shades of blue-grey and using "Chinese White" pigment to heighten fashion details and provide highlights. Neville generally painted bust-length portraits, but full-length likenesses are known.

Neville's trade labels which appear on the reverse of his silhouette portraits provide evidence that he was a London artist who made seasonal tours of East Anglia and the southern counties of England. One label indicates that when Neville painted one particular portrait he was working in a room attached to Mr Read's hairdressing shop which was located on the "corner of Westgate Street, near Corn Hill, Ipswich".

Sources and Acknowledgements

WEBSITES: Bonhams Fine Art Auctioneers