Unknown Man

An unknown man, wearing a curly wig tied with a ribbon and the back and a frock coat over a frilled short, is shown facing to the left. A printed trade label on the back reads 'Simmons, New Oxford St, 1853'.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, low relief portraits in wax became popular in Britain and they were often exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of Artists and elsewhere. Waxes were used in a similar way to prints and medals, in order to disseminate the image of the sitter, or, like miniature paintings or silhouettes as portable mementoes.