Beschreibung:

3.25 x 8.25 in. Charleston, SC, 31 December 1845. Pay order for $103.51, written and signed by Auguste Edouart (1789 - 1861) to James P. Weston, N.Y. daguerreotypist. The order is written on the back of an order for cases ("one gross of 1/4 cases octagon / Medium "vaulted" / Medium small border, etc.") Auguste Edouart is considered by many to be one of the best silhouette artists of the 19th century. The 16th child in the large Dunkerque family, he left for London in 1814, the same year he married Emilie Vital. He began making portraits from hair, then switched to paper silhouettes. He went to Edinburgh in 1829, working in Scotland for three years. He traveled for a decade in the U.S., ca 1839-1849, before returning to France, his livelihood virtually destroyed by the "newfangled invention," photography. Auguste made copies of all of his silhouettes for himself. He packed up an estimated 10,000 silhouettes in 50 cases. He was shipwrecked, but at least 16 of the cases were salvaged. Edouart was so despondent at the loss of his collection, he never looked at them again, and never cut another silhouette. A book was published by the National Portrait Gallery showcasing many of these survivors. Auguste and Emilie had five children before her untimely death in 1825. His son, Alexander Edouart (1818-1892) went to San Francisco in 1852, and made a career as a Western photographer, landscape painter and daguerreotypist. James Weston was a New York City daguerreotypist, working about 1842-1857. Some of his images are in the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian. Condition: Fine. Canceled as expected.