Antique Image of the Day: Portrait Silhouette of Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson as “Hamlet,” 1913

Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson as "Hamlet"
Baron Scotford, 1913
The Beard Collection
The Victoria & Albert Museum

For decades, portrait silhouettes were sentimental favorites.  While many were made at home, whole studios were opened to produce accurate shadow representations of sitters. 

This portrait silhouette depicts the celebrated early Twentieth-Century, English actor Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson in the role of “Hamlet.”  This image was produced by Baron Scotford at London’s Silhouette Studios—a group responsible for not only individual commissions, but also mass-produced cut-out images of celebrities and notable persons.

The silhouette is dated “11th September 1913.”  The portrait is cut from black inked paper, mounted on white.

The bottom of the image is marked:

“BARON SCOTFORD / 129 REGENT ST / LONDON / W. / Sir J. Forbes Robertson 'Hamlet' / Baron Scotford was specially commissioned to execute this portrait and he / has Sir Forbes Robertson’s authority that it and the other pose are the only silhouette portraits of him in existence. signed copy in Artists possession"

'THE SILHOUETTE STUDIOS / BARON SCOTFORD / 129 / REGENT STREET / W / SILHOUTTIST DE L'MOELUISSE.”