Hamlet, William, the Younger (McKechnie Section 2)

See Section Three for main entry.

We are concerned in this Section with the work, which Hamlet painted either in black or in dark base colours.

The examples which most resemble the work of his eider namesake are the silhouettes of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Hibbert; these show coarser brush-work, and some use of gum arabic (mixed with the black water-colour pigment) to show fines of detail in clothing and hair. Common to both artists is the device of using Chinese white to show the fines of hair against the dark face. Bust-line terminations, on the few examples, which may be positively identified as being by this artist, are variable in shape, whereas those on the eider Hamlet's work are more consistent in shape, usually showing an alternatively concave and convex curve. The profile of William Lloyd is 128 painted against a base colour of dark-bluish grey; the hair is reasonably well painted in an umber shade. On this example, gum Arabic is used, even more conspicuously than usual, to show the demarcation fines of clothing.

Hamlet's full-length work is variable in quality; on the earlier examples hands and feet are clumsily painted and rather over-size. The illustrated example (probably concocted from an earlier glass profile by the eider Hamlet) shows these characteristics. Hamlet's later profile work in colour (see Section Six) shows a great improvement, possibly accounted for by the lessons, which Hamlet received from John Dixon (q.v.), the miniaturist and silhouette artist.

The identification of Hamlet's work painted on card is not made easier by the fact that some examples bear trade labels used by the eider Hamlet.

Ills. 128, 823-825, 994, 1000