Wigs on the Green has dated this piece to the Regency era.
A needle has been used to scratch the gent’s side-whiskers and the lady’s curls. Both profiles are backed with white plaster and housed in traditional papier-mâché frames with matching rose hangers. The gentleman is backed with the artist’s unbroken label in Hamlet’s own handwriting – ‘Hamlet / Profile Painter / 17 Union Passage / Bath’. The following two lines have faded to become illegible but may actually be the sitter’s name. The lady’s label has unfortunately been removed with only a few letters and the concluding inked line remaining.
The silhouettes date to around 1805. There is a small area of delamination to the lady’s cheek and some dust caught under the glass of the gentleman but otherwise both profiles are in good condition and will display well.
William Hamlet’s country of birth remains a mystery but a recent discovery in the Bath Abbey Register has revealed that ‘William Hamlet a Negro’ was baptized there on 11 November 1772. He would have been in his early twenties at the time. Hamlet married eighteen year old Elizabeth Morgan in 1779 in Salisbury. Elizabeth was illiterate as the register was signed by her mark only. The couple went on to have five children including twins. In 1788, Hamlet was permitted to paint a profile of King George III during his stay at Cheltenham. The King rewarded him well and further royal commissions followed boosting Hamlet’s career.
Framed Size: 120 x 106mm
Provenance: Phillips Son & Neale, 1987 ; Estate of Paula Peyraud
Wigs on the Green has dated this piece to the Regency era.
Small portraiture of character & historical interest
You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Wigs on the Green Profile Page
A Pair of Silhouettes by William Hamlet the Elder
