Portrait of Miss Fessenden

Date1805-1809 (probably)

Artist William King (active 1785-1809)

MediumCut off-white wove paper with a black, plain- weave (silk?) fabric backing, which is wrapped around the wooden backboard and gathered in back with heavy unbleached thread or lightweight twisted cord.

DimensionsPrimary Support: 4 15/16 x 3 13/16in. (12.5 x 9.7cm) and Framed: 5 7/16 x 4 7/16in.

Credit LineGift of Mary B. and William Lehman Guyton

Object number1994.306.2

DescriptionA bust-length hollow-cut silhouette of a young woman facing right with an inscription beneath the image.
Possibly original 11/16-inch embossed brass foil over wood oval frame with wire hanging ring at center top.
Label TextKing was a native of Salem, Massachusetts, where he first worked as a cabinetmaker and ivory turner. In 1796, Salem diarist William Bentley recorded "News from Philadelphia, that Wm. King, belonging to a good family in this Town, after having dragged his family from Town to Town, left a note that he meant to drown himself and disappeared. It is supposed that he means to ramble unencumbered." Later, in 1809, Bentley described King as "a Wanderer. An ingenious mechanic, but full of projects, & what he gains from one, he loses in another."
By about 1804, with or without his family in the picture, the restless King had taken up the art of silhouette-making. In pursuit of the livelihood, he traveled extensively in New England and Nova Scotia and used one or more kinds of mechanical aids, various ads noting his reliance on either a physiognotrace or a "Patent Delineating pencil." (The exact nature of the latter is uncertain). He claimed to be able to cut a profile in six minutes. One ad indicates that he charged "25 cents for two Profiles of one person," thereby illustrating the common practice of creating multiple images (usually 2-4) at a time by folding the paper before cutting. This silhouette bears the embossed stamp "KING," one of two different stamps used by the cutter.

The sitter's identity has not been verified. She may have been the Mary Ann Fessenden of Lexington, Massachusetts, who, in 1809, worked a needlework memorial to her grandparents, Benjamin and Barbara Calder Fessenden, according to a label on the back of that picture. Mary Ann's father, Thomas, was the youngest child of Benjamin and Barbara Fessenden [Skinner's, "Bibliography," lot 245].

InscribedIn pencil in script below the image is: "Miss Fessenden/of Lexington M[ass.?]". The end of the inscription should be checked more closely when the portrait is unframed. See "Marks."

"King" in a modern hand in block letters in blue ballpoint pen appears on the center of the backboard, where the Guyton accession number ("S11") is also written in black ink.
Markings"KING" is blind stamped in the primary support beneath the shoulder of the subject.
ProvenanceGuyton (see "Source") notes that this was purchased from dealer Ruth Troiani, Pound Ridge, NY, in 1958 or 1959.