Dillon, Charles Grills (McKechnie Section 1)

See Section Seven for main entry

In the Fox-Smith collection there is a silhouette by Dillon, first cut by the artist and then bronzed.

Mr Fox-Smith's example shows a girl in her teens, and appears to have been taken c. 1814-16. The base colour of the silhouette is dark brownish-grey; detail is added in pale gold paint. Almost all the gold painting is heavily covered in gum arabic; even the painting of the necklace shows this. One point of interest for the identification of work by Dillon is that the rather prominent eyelash was cut from the paper, instead of being painted in afterwards, which was the more usual practice of artists producing this type of silhouette. The bust-line termination shows a sloping line from the back, a small curve being added beneath the arm to stress the puffed sleeve in fashion at the time. The silhouette is backed with Trade Label No. 3, showing Dillon's address at 40 St Aubyn Street, Plymouth. It is in a papier mache frame.

Ill. 344