Jorden, Walter (SCC Newsletter April 2006)

Walter Jorden fl. 1776 - 1786

(main reference see Mrs McKechnie pages 549 — 551)

His work This is unmistakable and distinctive. His backing inscriptions are few and provide the only information for the dates and places that he visited e.g. "Newtown 1776" and "Plymouth" (it was thought that this was intended to be Monmouth!) John Woodiwiss in his book “British Silhouettes" states that he had seen a signature on the obverse below the bust-line of works by Walter, but Mrs. McKechnie states she has never seen these and neither have I. A signature is difficult to produce on glass, so it is possible that examples with a signature could be "fakes".

His style. He painted on flat glass. His bust-lines were the usual convexity/concavity shape, but he modified this to show a dip at the junction of the arm as his career progressed. (note that Richard's works do not show this dip) Often this dip was obscured in the case of the ladies by their lace attachments! His early works are fairly plain, when compared with his later works — these only showed modest detail on shirt frills and buffons. Gradually he elaborated this detail especially on his women. Finally producing a group of extraordinary ladies, who could not have been painted by any other artist.

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His men These can easily be distinguished from those of his brother, as their shirt frills are far more detailed and similar in decoration to the lace detail on the ladies. Mrs. McKechnie takes the view that he used a needle to achieve this "elegant crescent of lace" for the shirt frill and possibly with a quill also.

On the left is Earl MaCartney an Irishman. He sold at Halls of Shrewsbury in July 1995 when he made £680 on the hammer. His oval is 5” and I mentioned him in the Newsletter for August, 1995. In the centre is Dr. Thomas Smith, who has formed part of the two important collections. He has not had a very successful career and failed to sell at his last appearance in the sale-rooms! His shirt frill is difficult to see in this photo. On the right is Patrick Drummond housed in a large oval frame 7.5” approximately. He had some damage on his nose, which has now been restored. I mentioned his sale in the April , 2005 Newsletter.

Above is a gentleman, who was sold at Christie's King Street with his lady in November, 1988. Both were splendid examples of Walter's art (the lady will be illustrated later in this article). Together they made £2,500 (estimate 1,800 - 2,000)!

On the right is a gent , who does not have the dip in the bust-line. I have attributed him as an early work of Walter in spite of this because of the quality of his shirt frill. Ovals of both works are 7.5”.

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His women As with his men Walter's early works were less decorative than those that followed towards the end of his career. On the left above is a lady illustrated in the Book on page 593. She has no dip in the bust-line and only a minimal amount of lace! In the centre is a lady once owned by Lady Shaftesbury, Walter's patron. She has the dip although part of the bust-line has been cut-off for the illustration in Mrs. Jackson's Dictionary. She shows no detail but I assume she has a decorated buffon at least. Her rather `tough' eyelash is unusual as most of Walter's eyelashes can hardly be seen in reproduction. On the right is another lady from the Book called Miss Kitty Berwick. She is pretty plain but note the small strokes under the bust-line. Mrs. McKechnie describes in great detail the technique used by Walter to show his ladies' frills and furbelows. A muslin handkerchief (worn on the head) or a buffon (worn over the decolletage) were depicted in the same way as lace i.e. "by multitudinous dots and zigzag lines and patterns". He obliterated patches of dots if he wanted to obtain a plainer design. In his most decorative work he had "two swoops" of lace below the bust-line and a third swoop on the far-side of the bosom. This third swoop according to the Book "gives the impression of a buffon being blown big in a high wind" Ribbons, of which there are plenty on some of Walter's sitters, were achieved with parallel lines of hatching with edges in some cases shown by minute scallops and zigzag lines. Smaller darker ribbons at the bosom or used to tie the hair are sometimes tied in the form of a heart shape with "neat extensions" at the end of the ribbons. Hats were terrific — large brimmed and feather bedecked. Hair is painted in dense black as his brother Richard. Neither were able apparently to show curls or texture as those other great glass artists namely Mrs. Beetham and Mr. Jolliffe.

On the left is an unknown lady sold at Christie's King Street in March 1986 She is very nicely adorned from all points of view. I do not know what she made on the hammer, but the estimate was £500 — £600. In the centre is a young lady sold at Sotheby's in April 1979. She sold for £350 (estimate £100 — £150) On the right is a lady from the Pollak Collection. She has a very crisp outline and sold for £850 (estimate £650 — £750) and is now owned by another member of the Silhouette Collectors' Club.

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Now for some prize examples of Walter Jorden’s work

Above are two ladies sold at Mrs. McKechnie’s Sale on 30th July, 1979. On the left is Miss Peninnah Herdsfield, later Mrs Bayley. Also she is illustrated in the Book no. 1127 page 594. She was lot 138 and made £680 on the hammer (estimate £300 - £500). She is a fine example of Walter’s work. She was 7” by 5” oval - housed in a pressed brass frame with a gesso backing. On the right is an unknown young lady. Also she is illustrated in the Book no. 1128 page 594 - but unfortunately this illustration has ‘lost’ some detail on the bust-line. She was lot 137 and made £740 on the hammer estimate £300 - £400. Her size was 4” by 3” and she was backed with second piece of glass and gesso.

On the left is a lady Miss Eliza Taylor. She was first sold at Christie’s in December, 1973, but i do not know what she made then. She came up for sale again in June, 1980 at Sotheby’s when she made £550 on the hammer. She is 7.25” oval and she is mounted within a turned gilt wood frame. On the right is the lady companion of a gentleman illustrated earlier in this article. They were certainly a fine pair and it is perhaps not surprising that the two made £2,500 on the hammer. Both are 7.5” oval and backed with the second piece of glass and gesso and housed in hammered brass frames. She is illustrated in the Book no. 175 page 129. Also her companion is illustrated in the Book no. 1123 page 594. They were sold at Christie’s King Street in November, 1988.

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Close-ups of decorative detail

Some years ago a collector came across a "broken" lady by Walter Jorden in a junk shop. He paid £15 for her and was very pleased with his purchase! He was inexperienced at the time and thought he could get a friend to restore the missing piece. Unfortunately he managed to break off a further piece and all was `lost' However, this silhouette has now been useful to show details of Walter's decorative work, I think you will be able to see from the three illustrations above some of the points that I have made in this article. Mrs. McKechnie took the view that much of this detail was executed with a quill. She has in her Book one illustration showing detail on a woman's hat no. 1224 page 611.

His frames These were similar to those of his brother i.e. oval hammered pressed brass. Unlike his brother he used two sizes — some for works about 7+" in height and others for works about 3.5" in height. Also he occasionally used gilt wood for his frames and I think all were backed with a second piece of gesso covered glass.

A short note on damage and breakages of works on glass.

Clearly over the years works by the Jorden Brothers have suffered damage. We know of one particular lady by Walter that has appeared in the sale-rooms in recent years — it had been dropped shattering into many pieces and then repaired. Unfortunately the restoration of broken works on glass is very rarely satisfactory and probably not worth the outlay. The silhouette illustrated in the Book no. 1126 on page 594 was badly damaged in transit on it's way to the Christie Sale in 1995. It was a lovely work but sold for way below the expected price. Other works over the years have not had such catastrophic damage, but have lost some bits of paint — perhaps due to rough handling or just the result of movement during the course of time. If the damage is confined to the main body of the silhouette it probably can be restored satisfactorily and is worth doing as with the silhouette that headed this article. It is most important with the Jorden's work to have a good outline and if this is in tact it is good news. Finally it is important to note that in spite of everything most of these silhouettes have survived without damage for over two hundred years. So do not be put off with a small loss of paint!

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His full-length work

Like his brother Walter also painted one full-length work that is recorded. This is of Madam de Genlis and her pug dog. It is 9.5” by 8”. This silhouette is well known to collectors as the sitter was thought for many years to be Queen Charlotte. Madam de Genlis was governess to the children of Philippe Egalite - later to become King of France. It is not certain if this work was painted from life but it is possible that the lady visited England. The work is now in the Royal Collection. It seems that John Woodiwiss always doubted that the sitter was Queen Charlotte, as he felt that no queen would be sitting on such a spidery chair - also he did not think that it looked like her! This silhouette has been copied as to be expected and I have reproduced here such a copy. You will see that this differs in some detail from the original, which is not surprising! Even this copy turned up in a sale-room, but was recognised as a copy I am glad to say!