New silhouette blurb

This is the text on the back of all my silhouettes:

Hand-cut silhouettes possess a unique charm all of their own, often seeming to capture the essence of a person in amazing detail with the minimum of effort. Such shadow portraits, or shades, were hugely popular throughout England during Georgian and Regency times. A portrait silhouette should always be cut freehand, using only the eye as a guide.

The name “silhouette” comes from Etienne de Silhouette (1709-67), the infamous Controller-General of France, who would amuse himself at drawing-room gatherings by cutting profiles from paper. In an effort to prop up the ailing banking system of the day he imposed a rigorous regime of tax rises and spending cuts. A popular joke of the day had it that the only portraits anybody could afford were cheap paper cut-outs made "a la Silhouette". It was meant as a derogatory term.

The craze for silhouettes died out in Victorian times with the arrival of photography; shades were suddenly old hat! Yet a few talented artists did continue the tradition throughout the twentieth century, and this little known English craft now seems poised to make a come-back.