Cameo Signature Help Needed

The 1838 RA catalogue born to be confusing:

 

(writing while you were posting)

Oh, I see the View of Highgate is listed as one of hers in the 1905 edition. Well, the one I linked to was published in 1839, so I'd go with 1841 as an error.

It does make most sense if "Mrs" was supposed to be "Miss" (because there is only one listed in the directory portion) and it would make my life better because I've about exhausted the census records for a Mary Ann/Mary Ann mom/daughter that work (there are plenty of them about the right time period, right age range, but not street address).

Brother or father was my guess for George. I think he was a printer, but that's not confirmed.

I miss Maude Anastasia.

 

'Portrait of my sister' is also listed as having been shown in the exhibition of 1846. Suppose could be a different version/sister. Imagine doing these compiled 'dictionaries', like the one for the RA contributors & Forrer's massive work (or the OED!), entirely by writing up, then sorting & resorting index cards by hand, perhaps with some assistants who turned over frequently. If the 1838 catalogue was published contemporaneously with the show, would expect it to be correct in most ways. The Mrs./Miss discrepancy is something that probably happened regularly & think we can go with Miss. One possibility is that Nichols was supposed to exhibit in 1838 but withdrew her contributions after the catalogue was printed, electing to hold them back until future years. Graves may have had access to other documentation that was more accurate about what really was & wasn't shown. The index for 1838 picks up only Highgate, work #489, not the sister, #790, so a couple of slips in 1838.

 

There so so many Mary Ann Nichols.

So. Many.

 

I wonder:

http://www.gslr-antiques.com/boutique/tableaux/paire-miniatures-buste-de-déesses.php?langue=en

 

Jacques-Joseph de Gault:

https://inezstodel.com/en/collection/recent-acquisitions/trompe-loeil-ring/

 

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19943/lot/79/

 

He's really something. Just searched on his name and there are more.

The first two could be Miss Nichols, but it does not appear she was alone in her invention.

 

http://picdeer.net/ivan_donovan

 

Louis Bertin Parant
http://www.galerieheim.ch/oeuvre-details.php?id_oeuvre=97&lng=2

 

Porcelain painting is where you regularly see really amazing work of this type.

Before we fell down this rabbit hole of artists who painted ivory to look like stone, my favorite trompe l'oeil painter was Piat Joseph Sauvage, who made a specialty of making paintings that looked like carved ivory.

Have shown this many times before:



This is Sauvage or circle of:

 

I like the Parant piece because of the hardstone layers/translucency ...

If there was higher res pic, I wouldn't be surprised to see an aura.

 

I'm watching this, although already shows signs that it will go past what I would be willing to pay:

 

Mary Ann, #251, Great Exhibition:



https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009221915&view=1up&seq=160

 

Still haven't nailed her in the census.

 

Are you trying to pin down life dates?

 

The thing I most want to know is if she got married and worked under a different name.

But there are 5k+ women who could be her in the 1841 census. Tighten up search parameters, but still allow for mistranscriptions and mistranslations, still 1K+.

Unless I get lucky, it will take some time.

 

Thought so:

 

it's like dude never slept.

 

Catalogue makes wonderful reading. Entry #247 is one of my favorites.