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Silhouette, leaf-shaped miniature of Mrs Agnes McLehose. Ivory. Mounted in an ebonised frame on a black background. Paper affixed to back detailing the picture and the background to Mrs. McLehose.
The miniature was executed at Edinburgh in 1788, and is referred to in Burns' letter of 7th February, 1788, to Mrs McLehose. Robert asked Agnes McLehose to pose for this tiny portrait ‘for a breast-pin, to wear next my heart’. It is unlikely that they had a physical relationship, but their long, passionate correspondence deeply affected them both.
John Miers the artist was a skilful taker of silhouette portraits was from Leeds and spent time in Edinburgh. He produced some of his work in ivory and his portrait of Clarinda was used by Burns as a breast pin.
Miers also produced a silhouette of Burns which showed his distinctive nose. This was often used to authenticate other portraits of him.
Silhouettes, or shades as they were also known, were popular in the late eighteenth century. They were made by using candlelight to cast a shadow of the sitter on to oiled paper and the outline drawn in pencil. This could then be transferred to paper or plaster and shaded in black.
Robert met Mrs Agnes McLehose, during his extended trip to Edinburgh. Although they were both involved with other people, the two began an epistolatory affair which has been immortalized through their surviving correspondence. Addressing each other as ‘Sylvander’ and ‘Clarinda’ to protect their identities in case of exposure, Robert and Agnes continued to write to each other for years, even after Robert married Jean Armour and moved to Ellisland near Dumfries.
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