Barbara Anne Townshend The Pencil'd Geranium Botanical Silhouette Paper Cut

An original c.1800 silhouette paper cut – Barbara Anne Townshend, The Pencil'd Geranium.

This stunning and exceptionally rare original botanical cut paper silhouette is by the early 19th-century silhouette cutting artist Barbara Anne Townshend (1781–1816).

Townshend's choice of botanical subject focuses on the geranium's deeply lobed leaves with pronounced leaf veins, which are then echoed by the striated petals on the small geranium blooms. As a result, it is a particularly effective subject for exploring the positive and negative space involved in silhouette art. Perhaps her subject is also a nod to the work of Mary Delany (1700–1788), for whom it was the paper-like petals of the geranium that were the original catalyst for her first paper cut.

This silhouette paper cut by Townshend was housed in an album of works related to the Glegg family of Cheshire, and is likely to have been gifted to the Glegg sisters by the artist. Townshend and Glegg were two closely related landed Cheshire families. The album comprised a number of works by Juliana Glegg (1770–1859), daughter of John Glegg of Irby (1732–1804) and niece of John Baskervyle Glegg (1741–1821) of Withington Hall. Barbara Anne Townshend (1781–1816) was the daughter of Edward Townshend (1737–1811) of Wincham and Antrobus. In 1832, the two families were connected by marriage, when Juliana's niece, Emma Glegg, married Barbara Townshend's nephew, Lee Porcher Townshend.

Whilst Barbara Anne Townshend's original work is extremely rare, she is known for her silhouette-cutting instruction book, 'Introduction to the Art of Cutting Groups of Figures, Flowers, Birds, &c. in Black Paper', which contained aquatint engravings by M. Dubourg after silhouettes cut by her, first published in 1808 by Edward Orme. The book provided examples and instructions for other women to learn the art of the silhouette; two further known editions followed in 1815 and 1836, a testament to the book's popularity and significance in the history of the art form. Townshend's considerable skill as a cutter is also evidenced in a scrapbook that she gifted to her god-daughter Harriet Brooke in 1805 containing examples of her work.

Townshend's technique is described in the book:
'The paper best calculated for the purpose is thin black paper, either dyed black or glazed, according to taste; the scissors to have long shanks, with short and sharp points… It is more advisable to cut on the white side of the paper, in order to distinguish clearer'.

She outlines the different approach to different subjects:
'When a group of figures are to be cut, after designing a subject in the mind, cut the general outline in a rough manner, and correct and finish them afterwards: flowers, on the contrary, must be carefully and exactly cut out first, and open parts to be done after the leaves and blossoms are formed… Let the lines flow as in drawing, according to the line of beauty; straight and acute lines give a formality… Flowers should be cut elegantly and accurately; all twining plants are best adapted for the scissors.'

She also explains the need to cut directly, without any prior drawing:
'By drawing the designs first it takes greatly from the merit of cutting; therefore, it is advisable for the learner, not to begin with doing so, but to form the figures with the scissors, without the aid of the pencil: a figure which looks well in drawing has a contrary effect in cutting; for in paper there must be more left to the imagination'.

The silhouettes in Townshend's book are principally scenes comprising figures in Empire-style dress with decorative classical motifs, popular at the beginning of the 19th century. The present silhouette is especially beautiful by comparison, being a naturalistic botanical study—in the vein of the work of German paper cut artist Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810)—rather than a fashionable confection.

Cut black paper pasted on to cream wove paper, laid down on blue album page.