A Georgian Couple? Captured Separately by the Prolific Itinerate Artist James Gillespie?

THE STORY - Please forgive me for the use of question marks in the title of this listing, but I do want to stress they are relevant. When this pair of miniature portraits came up at Auction they were simply listed as being of a man and a woman, but it was difficult not to recognise them as the work of the Artist James Gillespie, but sadly each of them only have remnants of the familiar trade labels Mr Gillespie used in the UK. And even though they did come together in the lot I have no proof that they have always been that way although I have to say they certainly do look like a couple to me. Each of the profiles are painted in what has come to be know as monochrome profiles where the sitter is painted against a dark background with detail of their clothes and features picked out in grey tones with just the use of light for their faces and shirts and collars. The young woman wears a mop cap tied with a bow at the back from which two little curls escape at the side and she wears a high lace collar above her empire line dress, almost certainly this would have been outdoor wear. The young gentleman fascinates me his face is painted very finely and I think has a lot more depth to it than many such portraits of Gillespie and the painting of his hair is truly wonderful in its fashionable Brutus cut we can see such individual brush strokes. He too is dressed I believe in his outdoor clothing with that heavy double breasted jacket and high collar and cravat. It really is hard not to see them as a couple out for the day, or maybe, at the beginning of a new stage in their life together and wanting to preserve the moment. And certainly James Gillespie would have been the perfect Artist to fulfil this wish. James Gillespie thought to have been born in 1793 was an itinerate artist of no fixed address who it is thought started painting in 1810 going around fairs and towns of Britain advertising his wears as a Profile Artist where likenesses were drawn in one minute and as legend has it, he painted thousands, sometimes full silhouettes, sometimes full colour portraits and sometimes monochrome portraits like these two. In 1825 for some reason he decided to leave Britain and travelled overseas to Nova Scotia where of course he kept doing what he did best and painted his way down the East Coast of America. There are on each of the portraits a couple of signs that these are indeed Gillespies, each of them have the remnants of a Gillespie trade label with the wavy outline of the square within which the text was written, hers is uncovered but his in under a new backing which was put there many years ago but which I hope you can see revealed in the final photo. Also each of the frames have the Rose, Thistle and Shamrock Hanger one associates with Gillespie.

AGE - Circa 1815

CONDITION - Each of the portraits are in good condition considering their age. As I have already mentioned there are only remnants to be seen of the trade label. The papiér Maché frames are a little scuffed at the edges and each of the the brass oval rims shows sign of wear as do the the brass hangers which have darkened with age and which I have not attempted to clean. There has been a slight movement to the portraits but I will leave it to the new owner to decided whether they wish to put new backs on the portraits.

DIMENSIONS OF EACH PORTRAIT (Approx) - Framed - Height 5&1/4" / 13.5cm, Width 4&1/4' / 11cm, Depth 1/4" / 0.75cm. Image Size - Height 2&3/4" / 7cm, Width 2&1/4" 5.5cm

I of course find it impossible not to see these two as a young couple making their way in the world together. And who knows maybe they did hear that Mr Gillespie was coming to their hometown maybe attending a fair or a market or even a port and this couple wanted to document for some reason which we will never know this moment in their life. I being me dream they are about to set aboard a ship to travel to their new life in America. But I always have been a dreamer! The honest realist in me says I have absolutely no proof of this and that is true. The honest truth which I do know is that they are wonderful and they are even more wonderful because there are two of them.