William Henry Bannister (McKechnie Section 1)

Recorded by Jackson (Dictionary). As she mentions two different trade labels, she had presumably seen more than one example of his work. I have seen one, which was cut and painted a little later than 1850, the date given by Jackson for this artist. As Jackson does not mention any address on these labels, one can only conclude that Bannister was an itinerant artist, working at least as early as 1850 and as late as 25 March 1853 (the date of the example which I have seen). This silhouette was cut almost in three-quarter-length. It showed a boy wearing a hat, and was very well embellished with gold on black paper. The work somewhat resembled an illustrated example by E. Gerard, and is perhaps of finer quality.

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The trade labels recorded by Jackson were a round printed label (Trade Label No. 1), adorned with palette and brushes (presumably inscribed in the centre with the name Bannister, possibly followed by the word 'artist', or some other description), and a small rectangular printed label (Trade Label No. 2), worded 'BANNISTER artist', which has been seen on another three quarter-length silhouette taken in the Isle of Man in 1851. The silhouette which I saw was inscribed with the artist's surname and the date.