Silhouette 'Pfarrer Lechner'

Exceptional Silhouette depicting an Austrian pastor. The technique originally was invented by the French finance minister Etienne de Silhouette approx.1760. Prior to the advent of photography, Silhouette profiles cut from black card were a cheap and very popular way of recording a person's appearance. The technique used in the offered image is unusual, since it is a reverse glass painting with a gold plated background. According to the handwritten inscription on the back, the Silhouette shows Pastor Lechner and was made 1834 in Maria Trost, a well known place of pilgrimage in Styria near Graz, Austria. The oval portrait is fitted in a black lacquer wooden frame (size 14x17.5cm).