Crowhurst, George 'Angelo' (SCC Newsletter April 2004)

George Angelo Crowhurst

fl. 1827-44

HIS FULL - LENGTH PAINTED WORK.

I wrote a four paged article on Mr. Crowhurst's gold highlighted bust length work for the March,1996 Newsletter. I have done a facsimile of this article at the end of this one! I think it is just possible to read the text for those of you who were not Members of the S.C.C. at that time. In that article I promised further information on Mr. Crowhurst - this time it is to look briefly at his full-length work with special emphasis on the conversation piece sold at Christies', South Kensington at the end of last year and illustrated under Sales in the December, 2003 Newsletter. To refresh your memory this piece has been photocopied in a reduced form on the left at the bottom of this page. Interestingly I mentioned this conversation piece in the 1996 article, as it had been sold at the Morgan May Sale in 1985 on 22nd. February - little did I think at the time that it would come on the market eighteen years later and I would be able to purchase it. However, for those interested in prices it only made £80 more at Christies' than it had made at the earlier sale. Not a good return I think! Also I have photocopied below a well-known work by Crowhurst of the Duke of York & George IV - it is illustrated in Mrs. McK's Book on page 468 illus. 730) It is taken from a watercolour drawing by G.Atkinson - Crowhurst was quite an effective copyist.

There is little background information on Mr. Crowhurst or his professional career. It is almost certain that he was painting silhouettes for a living by 1827 and that he continued to do so until the early 1840's at least. As far as is known he only worked in Brighton - mainly at 40, Old Steine, which was an address previously used by G. Atkinson. In the latter 1840's he seems to have moved to 11, Old Steine. Crowhurst was both a 'cutter' and a painter. There are few recorded & authenticated examples of his 'cut-outs' - except those of the Ogle Family several of whom are illustrated in Mrs. McK's Book. In my view his 'cut-outs' may easily be mistaken for his painted work when seen through the glass of a frame -particularily when colour & gold has been used to show detail. J. Woodiwiss in his book has a black & white photo of Mrs. Ogle, which he describes as being painted. The same silhouette in Mrs. McK is in the cut-out section of her Book. In 1996 I thought that Crowhurst might have cut more silhouettes than he painted, but I now take the opposite view. He is certainly better known for his painted work, but he still remains difficult to attribute without a label. I hope that this article will help a little in this direction.

CROWHURST cont’d

The following seven photographs are of figures and detail from the conversation piece. These show examples of his style with lady's hair, headdresses, jewllery and neck frills - together with his 'treatment' of gentleman and three children of different ages. Also, the Piece confirms that he painted in full colour, which Mrs. McK had not seen when she wrote her Book, with the exception of the "wedgewood blue" examples, which I referred to in my earlier article. As you will see his brushwork can be fine, but is very variable! There is no evidence on these figures that he used gum arabic - it is therefore likely that he did not use this throughout his career and it provides a useful attribution 'tool'. Since looking at this Piece in some detail I have been able to attribute two other silhouettes from my Collection to Mr. Crowhurst.

On this page is the younger of the two boys and his father. The base colour of all the figures is a very dark grey - this colour was frequently used by Crowhurst for his full-length figures when he was using colour. The boy's hair is painted in gold - strokes not particularily fine. His stance is well conveyed and I should think he is about nine years old. The painting of his hands is hopeless - not uncommon with many silhouette artists of this period! His father is depicted in two bits - as you will see his hands are no better especially the one over the chair. However, he is nicely painted with good detail for his greyish whiskers and his fancy stock.

On the next page is the children's mother sitting at the table and the older boy standing beside it. He has been photographed on a slightly smaller scale than his mother. Her hair is painted skillfully with fine strokes of gold.

CROWHURST cont’d.

The 'treatment' of her lace collar and cuffs is attractive and different. Her hands are poorly painted as to be expected I think! On the folds of her dress are two little squiggles of light blue colour to the left at

CROWHURST cont’d.

the bottom of her dress. More shaded blue has been used higher up on the folds as well as black to show detail. The older boy looks somewhat 'uncomfortable in a typical adolescent way. I should think he is about 14 years old. The table and objects on it are realistically and competently painted.

On this page is the older lady - no doubt a grandmother. No gold has been used for her - but rather chinese white and black to show her bonnet and clothing detail. I suspect she may be toothless. Beside her is the little girl - the daughter of the Family. I think she is the best of the group. I think she is probably aged about 6 years. She is painted in a very neat and compact style. Her dress is particularily effective - painted in two shades of red. Still her hands leave much to be desired! Note her very small feet, which would hardly 'anchor' her I feel. Small feet are something of a Crowhurst feature particularily with his full-length women in their long dresses. Also note the shadows by the figures and the furniture - as to be expected these have been reversed for the figures on the right side of the composition.

In my 1996 article I mentioned a full-length silhouette of a lady by Crowhurst in the Hove Museum Collection. She is illustrated on the next page together with a photo of the frill around her, which has been enlarged to

CROWHURST cont’d.

show the painting technique. The photos were taken some years ago so the results are not as good as I would have hoped. Her dress is grey with shaded highlights and her hair is gilded. The frill and gauze around her neck is painted in grey and chinese white. She has very small feet! I think she is a good example of Crowhurst's full-length figures of women. She could easily be taken for a 'cut-out', but is not. She is very similar to the 'cut-out' silhouette of Miss Jane Ogle in the women's costume section of Mrs. McK's Book (page 151 illus. 215).

For good measure I have photocopied Mrs. Mutrie below on the right. She was only attributed to Crowhurst at the Bonham Sale on 6th. July, 1992. She was painted and highlighted with a rather reddish gold that I had not associated with Crowhurst. I was not sure about her at the time but she is a splendid figure nevertheless!

Below is the facsimile of the S.C.C. Newsletter from March 1996 of Bust-Length painted work by: George A. Crowhurst.

George Angelo Crowhurst fl: 1827. - 1844.

HIS BUST-LENGTH PAINTED WORK

Crowhurst is a difficult artist to attribute without a trade label - as he does not have a particularily distinctive style of his own. This is complicated by the fact that he advertised his ability to make copies of other artist's work. He is known to have copied G. Atkinson's work - both were 'Brighton artists and both used premises at 40, Old Steine for a time. He also made a practice of trying to be as versatile as possible in the style and type of work he produced - he did cut-out work, painted work, bust-length as well as full-length. He also advertised work on ivory, en grisaille, cameo and coloured profiles. As a result Mrs. McKechnie has entries on him in four sections of her Book - although she had not seen any examples of his work on ivory, or his cameo and coloured work. I think he is likely to have been most prolific with his cut-out work and possibly this is more recognisable than other forms of his work.

I saw in my early days of collecting a conversation piece by Crowhurst at as antique fair. The faces of the sitters' were black but there was a good deal of colour used for their clothing. Unfortunately at the time I was not very interested in silhouettes with colour and the price was beyond me so I did not make a proper note! Also a conversation piece by Crowhurst was sold at the Morgan May Sale on 22nd. February, 1985 (item 147). It was described as a "coloured conversational profile of Mr. & Mrs. Edward Ransome & Family." It was dated 6th. Feb. 1834. Unfortunately again I did not regard it very carefully and cannot remember whether the faces were flesh-tinted. I think probably so from the description in the catalogue. It was certainly painted on paper and colour was used for the clothing. For those who are interested it made £462 (including premium) - estimate £200-£300.

However, it is with Crowhurst's bust-length painted work that I am focusing upon in this article. It is competent work although I do not think it is as skilled as that of some of his contemporaries such as G. Atkinson, Hallam and Jefferson. I hope that the illustrations I have used will be useful and perhaps help in attribution of some of your silhouettes.

Mrs. McKechnie illustrates two bust-length examples of Crowhurst, painted work on page 468 illustrations nos. 726 L 731. The first is of the Duke of York - which is over-painted with a blue colour. I will look at this type of work at the end of the article under 'blue tint work'. The second is of Sir Charles Clarke - this is painted on a dark grey base colour with grey and chinese white highlights. I have no illustrations of this colourinq, but it has obvious 'links' in style with those painted on a black base with gold highlights which I am using.

Two examples illustrated at the start of this article and a third together with the label behind the boy are illustrated on this page. All are clearly by the same hand - 'they are painted on the same stiffish card and 'housed' in identical Hill frames. I think it is likely that all had a label on the reverse at some point in their history. All were acquired at the sametime in one Lot. The size of the frame rectangular insets are 2½" by 3" approx. It should be noted that rectangular papier mache frames are not all that common for bust-length silhouettes - so it may be worth considering Crowhurst if you come across these with appropriate works inside! Although having said this he also used more common oval frames! I have enlarged some detail on all three silhouettes (apologies for the slight distortion at the edges of these photos.) They show that no gum arabic was used by Mr. Crowhurst - also that his gold highlighting is only on certain parts of the clothing - other parts he leaves black . Unlike J. Field who ‘covered’ the whole surface with gold. His highlighting on the hair is all over but the strokes are somewhat coarse. Thinned water-colour is used for shirts and stocks and the boy’s collar. The bust-line terminations vary - but from Mrs. McKechnie’s illustrations and the termination of the older man it would appear that he favoured the straight dipping line. However, I do not think we can rely on this feature for attribution purposes.

It is a pity that i have no example of a woman but i understand that he painted necklaces and earrings in gold. I have seen chinese white and colour used for frills at the neck of women’s dresses. There is an example in the Hove Museum’s Collection of this - although the actual silhouette is not labelled it was attributed to Crowhurst by Mrs. Jackson. I may illustrate this at a later date when i am focusing on his full-length work.

The label illustrated is recorded by Mrs. McKechnie as being No. 3 and the only printed one known to have been produced by Mr. Crowhurst.

Blue-Tint Work

It has always been something of a ‘mystery’ as to what this meant. Some of you will no doubt remember visiting the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle - when we saw two silhouettes of unidentified sitters (but clearly of royal personages of some sort as the frames were very grand and each had a crown below the hanger.) Members looked carefully at these two silhouettes; as they were unusual with their blue 'covering'. We debated whether the blue colour had been added at a later date to brighten-up the silhouette - but we were eventually brought to heel by a knowledgeable collector. He pointed out that the silhouette was by Crowhurst, who did this sort of work! We then referred to the Duke of York in Mrs. McKechnie's Book and we were thoroughly pleased with ourselves!

I have illustrated above one of these, silhouettes from the Royal collection. It can be seen that it is painted on a black base colour - then gold 'high-lights’ have been added and the whole 'washed over' with blue. The blue is likely to be the ”WedgeWood blue' that Crowhurst mentioned in his advertisments i.e. embellished in “Wedgevood blue''. I have never seen work of this type done by any other artist. One could take the view that it is an unpromising ‘addition' but I have to admit that the overall effect is quite pleasing!

It is of interest that Mrs. McKechnie describes the Duke of York in the text as being "painted against blank in varying depths of chinese white and pale blue body colour.” I cannot quite understand this as it looks the same as the Royal Collection gentleman. On the other hand Mrs. Jackson when talking about Crowhurst's work refers to "gold beneath grey white drapery. So it is possible that he also used a lighter over-all blue/grey tint to get a similar effect. After all there are two blues used in Wedgewood China '- one is much paler than the other.

Do let me know if any of you have labelled painted silhouettes by Mr. Crowhurst or ones that you think might be by him.