Between the 18th and 19th centuries, portraiture was very popular with much competition.  Artists travelled from town to town in search for clients.  However not all these painted portraits.  Silhouette portraiture was both a poor and rich man's skill.  The art was not in the hands but in the personality.  Shadow portraits were far cheaper than paintings or sculptures.

The word silhouette was adopted as the new name for these shadow portraits.  The word silhouette came from the french Finance Minister "Etienne de Silhouette" during the mid 18th century.  He was a despised politician due to his unpopular tax plans who cut shadow portraits in his spare time.  "A la silhouette" means reducing something down to its simplest form.  It was applied to things that were cheap, such as these shadow portraits.

However, the use of both silhouette and painted portraits declined in the mid 19th century due to the invention of photography in 1829.  Photography improved steadily and photographed portraits finally became possible around 1839 and 1840.  From then on, people just got their picture taken and the status of artists went into decline.

Nowadays, there are around 100 true silhouette artists in the world practicing this ancient art form.  Some of whom I have taken inspiration from for my project such as Lauren Muney, Karl Johnson and Auguste Edouart.