Portrait of Sarah Fenton (1817-after 1879)

Date1834

Artist Augustus Day (active 1800-1836)

MediumWatercolor, ink, gouache, and bronze powder on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary Support: 4 1/2 x 3 1/2in. (4 1/2 x 3 1/2in.) and Framed: 8 1/2 x 7 1/8 x 1in.

Credit LineGift of Barbara and David Merten

Object number2010.300.1

DescriptionA bust-length profile portrait of a young woman facing right, the body color rendered in a greenish-gray hue with interior details added in black (watercolor or ink), white (gouache), and yellow (bronze powder or watercolor?), the whole behind an églomisé mat. Her hair is piled on top of her head in large curls or rolls (one large and one smaller) that are held in place by two combs. A large, flat, C-shaped curl above her ear curves toward her face. She wears a double ruff collar; the print or weave of the fabric of her dress consists of intersecting triple lines set on the diagonal (creating a "windowpane" plaid effect), with a band of ornament over the shoulder at the top of the sleeve.

The mat consists of a black border that creates a rectangular aperture; the black is enlivened by one large and one smaller pinstripe of gilding, the larger, outer stripe having cutout corners that partially encircle pierced dots (acorn-like devices) from which three leaves extend outward.

The 1 3/8-inch 2-part frame is believed original; it consists of a splayed, mahogany-veneered outer frame with an outer bead and a liner of a stepped cyma recta molding.
Label TextAugustus Day advertised in Charleston in 1804 that he had just arrived from Philadelphia and was ready to employ his "new invented PHYSIOGNOTRACE, upon an improved plan, superior to any of the kind ever seen in America, invented by himself, for taking Profiles." Enticingly, he added that his machine was constructed so "as not to touch the face."

However, city directories reveal Day's more protracted presence in Philadelphia, where he advertised as a "carver and gilder" continuously during 1800-1806 and, erratically, during 1814-1820. (In 1801, he also appeared there as a "looking glass & picture frame maker.")

As his Charleston ad suggests, Day also created fully-detailed profile portraits as well as shades (or silhouettes as they are better known today). Most appear to date from the 1830s. Some of the silhouettes are painted, others hollow-cut. Some are marked "Day's Patent," some "Day Fecit," which has prompted speculation that he used the former for profiles rendered with the aid of a physiognotrace, the latter for freehand examples.

Sarah Fenton was the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Fenton. She married Bucks County, Pennsylvania, cabinetmaker Edward Trego (1812-1886) on 21 April 1836, almost two years after Day created companion profiles of her and Edward. (For Edward Trego's portrait, see acc. no. 2010.300.2). Likely either Trego or Day crafted the two profiles' frames, which are original.

Silhouettists typically rendered painted profiles in the darkest, most opaque black available (India ink, when they could get it). For body color, however, Day occasionally used the greenish-gray hue shown in the Fenton and Trego examples. The color contrasts especially pleasingly with the bright yellow of the bronze powder or paint he used for some interior details and with the gilding in the eglomisé covers.

InscribedIn graphite in delicate script beneath the portrait bust is: "Day Fecit".

On the back of the primary support, in graphite in script along the lower edge, in another hand, is: "Sarah Fenton/taken May 18th/34".

On the back of the backboard in graphite in script in another hand is: "Sarah Fenton/May 18th 1834/(written on back of/silhouette)".

MarkingsA typed label, evidently created by a dealer, detached from the silhouette and stored separately in an accompanying envelope, reads: "Day. The fiancee, Sarah Fenton. Elaborate coiffure with high tortoise-/shell comb, all gilded. Very fancy lace ruff, touched with gilt. Pat-/terned dress with black shoulder-straps."
ProvenanceSold at an unidentified auction in Philadelphia, Pa., in or before 1922; bought there by Alice Van Leer Carrick; unidentified owner(s); to Barbara and David Merten, who were CWF's donors