Thompson, I. S. or L. S. (McKechnie Section 2)

Not previously recorded as a silhouette artist. I have seen only one profile signed by Thompson; this is in the W. E. Fox-Smith collection. It was found in Bristol, but bore no legible address either of the artist or of the sitter. It was clearly inscribed with the date 1841. The sitter was a girl, painted in three-quarter length in black, with full detail of dress coarsely but effectively painted in pale gold. The size of the card bearing the portrait was 4¾ x 3 in. The bust-line termination was unusual (see the diagram) and might

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offer a clue to other unidentified silhouettes by Thompson. The frame was of mahogany, with a gilt inner surround. The inscription on the reverse, painted in script with a brush, read, ‘Miss Gadsby/Drawn by I. S. [? L. S.] Thompson/1841.’