The term "silhouette", although existing from the 18th century, was not applied to the art of portrait-making until the 19th century. In the 18th and early 19th century, “profiles” or “shades” as they were called were made by one of 3 methods:
(1) painted on ivory, plaster, paper, card, or in reverse on glass; (
(2) “hollow-cut” where the negative image was traced and then cut away from light colored paper which was then laid atop a dark background; and
(3) “cut & paste” where the figure was cut out of dark paper (usually free-hand) and then pasted onto a light background.
dog silhouette
