Things that Make You Go “Hmmm”

When I first began working at the Library Company more than a decade ago, one of the first Print Department treasures I handled was the silhouette attributed to Raphaelle Peale showing the noted African American silhouettist Moses Williams. Since then I have pulled many items from our silhouette collection, but not until recently have I truly looked at these unique portraits. There are certainly silhouettes of great skill, many from the Peale Museum, included in the hundreds we hold–but then there are some that make you go “hmmm” or “oh, no.”

Silhouettes could enhance physical flaws, not really noticeable until in profile, like the double chin of this possibly unsuspecting woman.

And surely this younger woman was wearing a headpiece when she sat for her portrait, but in silhouette the accessory has morphed into what resembles a grotesque growth.