Bouttats (McKechnie Section 3)

Known from a signed group silhouette of a family, painted in verre églomisé, recorded by Jackson (Dictionary). In the text Jackson gives the date 1795, but gives 1760 in the list of artists at the end of the book. Beneath the picture is written 'Jeanne, Countess of Harrington, Lord Viscount Petersham, and the Honble. Lincoln Stanhope'. It appears from Burke's Peerage that the group represented the following members of the Harrington family (the éarldom was created in 1730): Jane, the wife of Charles, the Third Earl, whom she married in 1779; Charles, Viscount Petersham, the eldest son of the family, later the Fourth Earl, born on 8 April 1780, and Lincoln Edwin Robert, the second son of the family, born on 26 November 1781. Since the sons of the family are both described as children, it seems that this group was painted c. 1790. It is possible that Bouttats was of Flemish extraction, as both Bryan and Bénézit list a number of artists of this name who worked during the seventeenth century, mainly as engravers, and who were all born in Antwerp. Since this one silhouette of an English family is the only piece by Bouttats which has been recorded, it is impossible to say whether he settled in England or merely visited the country.

Jackson describes the group in some detail. The countess, probably dressed in the style of c. 1790, appears to have been the central figure. By her side stood one of the boys, saying farewell to the other, who was shown leaving the room carrying a basket of flowers. On the wall was a mirror, with an upholstered settee beneath. Wall panelling was shown, with draped curtains (complete with tassels and loops), partly concealing the bust of a man on a decorated pedestal. The inscription below was no doubt written in gold against black, since this was a verre églomisé piece. Jackson describes the painting as very good, although she mentions that the perspective is at fault. The sight measurement of the piece was 8 x 10 in.

The group was signed, probably with a needle, simply 'Bouttats'.