Antique Silhouette Portrait, 1834 Boy Profile by Hubard Gallery

This wonderful miniature cut paper silhouette was produced in England in the year 1834. The silhouette was produced by The Hubard Gallery.

A young 13 year old boy called Master William James Hubard (b 1807 – d 1862) was a child protégé who masterfully cut silhouettes unaided just with a pair of scissors. Master William James Hubard was a British-born artist whose talent and commercial possibilities were spotted by a Mr Smith and the travelling Hubard Gallery grew from the boy's success, travelling UK, Ireland , USA, Canada and Europe. William James Hubard eventually left the gallery in the 1840s. William Hubard settled in the USA where he became a well recognized portrait painter in Richmond, Virginia. With a long standing interest in sculpture, he gained the rights to reproduce the Houdon marble statue of George Washington. After much experimentation and financial input, his copies were somewhat successful with the states of Carolina purchasing statues. It was the brass foundry that Hubard created to make his statues that later changed use to a canon foundry at the start of the Civil War. Unfortunately Hubard was killed by an explosion of a cannon at his plant in February 1862.

Reference: Trade Label No. 5 of the Hubard Gallery in “British Silhouette Artists and their Work 1760 – 1860” by Sue McKechnie.

The silhouette features a little boy in profile view. The silhouette is housed behind its original glass in its original stained wood frame. The frame is complete with its original backing board and rare artist’s trade label. The backing board features the original owners old ink inscription reading “Richard Dawson, cut 24th of December 1834, age 5 years.

The sitter is Rev Richard Dawson, MA who was born in 1829 in Seacombe, Cheshire, England.

Richard was the eldest son of Richard Crosbie Dawson, Esq, (b abt.1799 – d 1880) and Anne Dawson, née Pritt (b abt. 1808 – d abt. 1850). The Dawson’s family home was No. 7 Queen’s Square, Westminster, London. They lived there for 20+ years. Richard Crosbie Dawson was the secretary of prisons.

Rev Richard Dawson, MA was the educated at Brasenose, Oxford and was perpetual Curate of Marple, Derbyshire and later vicar of Sutton Benger from 1862 until his death 1903. He was also the chaplain of Chippenham union workhouse from 1886. There is a memorial to him inside the All Saints Church, Sutton Benger, Wiltshire, England.

Richard Dawson married his first wife Alice Dawson, née Simmons (b abt. 1844 - d 1879) in 1863 in Sutton Benger, Wiltshire, England. The couple had several children. Richard married his second wife a widow called Louisa Dawson, née Little in 1882 in Chippenham, Wiltshire.

The silhouette of his sitter, Elizabeth Crosbie Dawson, was taken on the same day by the same artist, please see the silhouette of Elizabeth Crosbie Dawson sold separately in our store.

This is a wonderful silhouette with a fascinating history!

Measuring: Frame width 3.75 inch (9.5 cm) by height 4.75 inch (12 cm). Aperture width 2.75 inch (7 cm) by height 3.75 inch (9.5 cm).

Condition: Area of old animal glue staining to left side of the silhouette's background paper from a poorly executed old frame repair, since corrected. Light surface wear and old joint opening to the naive and very charming frame. All perfectly stable.

ITEM ID:14320