Wigs on the Green has dated this Victorian Silhouette Family Portrait to the 19th Century.
The work is neatly cut with good detailing - tunic buttons, eyelashes, cropped hair and heeled shoes.
The earliest record for Darbyshire is an advertisement in the Birmingham Journal (26 Dec. 1840) when he was offering cut paper profiles, landscapes and cattle on behalf of the Adelaide Gallery. Listed as a 26-year-old artist in the 1841 Census, he was based at York Street (now Bedale Street), Southwark. The following year he married Sarah Bennett, a widow. Despite his talent for cut-work, Darbyshire's artistic career was very short-lived as by 1851 he and wife were saloon owners in nearby Marylebone. Some twelve years older than her husband, Sarah died at the age of 48 in December 1851 whereupon all trace of Alfred Darbyshire disappears from the records.
With very light age-browning to the background card, the silhouette is in good condition; it is housed in a Hogarth style frame.
Wigs on the Green has dated this Victorian Silhouette Family Portrait to the 19th Century.
Small portraiture of character & historical interest
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Alfred Darbyshire, Rare Silhouette