The Double Silhouette: Celebrating Pride Month through the Victorian Hairwork of Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant

The Double Silhouette, housed at the Henry Sheldon Museum, stands not only as a beautiful testament to 19th-century hairwork artistry and silhouette creation, highlighting the era's intricate craftsmanship, but also celebrates the enduring love story of Sylvia Drake (1784-1868) and Charity Bryant (1777-1851), two remarkable women whose relationship continues to inspire and resonate today. Having lived as a married couple for over forty years, their unique double portrait is considered one of the earliest known images of a same-gender couple in America.

Unidentified Artist, Double Silhouette: Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant, ca. 1807-1815.
Cut paper on black fabric, cream-colored laid paper, framed in silk and braids of human hair
Sheet 5 ¾” x 5 ¾”
Collection of Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History

The figure on the right is said to represent Charity while the figure on the left is said to be Sylvia. Their cut paper silhouettes face each other, revealing a black fabric beneath, bordered by a delicately faded layer of pink silk. Daintily braided hair winds around the silk's curving edges forming graceful loops. Where the profiles of the two women meet, their intertwined hair forms a heart shape, symbolizing their profound connection and love. This piece offers a fascinating interplay of representation, portraying the women in silhouette featuring details of their nearly matching hairstyles while incorporating strands of their actual hair. The delicate curls at the nape of their necks and bangs on their foreheads contrast beautifully with the physical hair entwined around the artwork, creating a touching, intricate, and tangible tribute to their bond.

In her 2014 book, Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America, historian Rachel Hope Cleves delves into the interconnected lives of Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake, highlighting their significance in the small town of Weybridge, Vermont. Through letters and poems, the women expressed their deep affection for one another, often using metaphors that echo their braided hair silhouette portrait. Charity’s 1808 poem beautifully illustrates this connection: the two women were surrounded “‘by every gentle tie/ That binds the tender heart'” (Cleves, 105). Charity and Sylvia met in 1807 and soon formed a partnership recognized by themselves and others as a marriage. As Bryant remarked in her memoir, “‘on the 3rd day of July 1807… [Sylvia Drake] consented to be my help-meet and came to be my companion'” (Cleves, 101).

Nephew William Cullen Bryant wrote of their partnership:

“If I were permitted to draw aside the veil of private life, I would briefly give you the singular, and to me most interesting history of two maiden ladies who dwell in this valley. I would tell you how, in their youthful days, they took each other as companions for life, and how this union, no less sacred to them than the tie of marriage, has subsisted, in uninterrupted harmony, for forty years, during which they have shared each other’s occupations and pleasures and works of charity while in health, and watched over each other tenderly in sickness; for sickness has made long and frequent visits to their dwelling. I could tell you how they slept on the same pillow and had a common purse, and adopted each other’s relations, and how one of them, more enterprising and spirited in her temper than the other, might be said to represent the male head of the family, and took upon herself their transactions with the world without, until at length her health failed, and she was tended by her gentle companion, as a fond wife attends her invalid husband. I would tell you of their dwelling, encircled with roses, which now in the days of their broken health, bloom wild without their tendance, and I would speak of the friendly attentions which their neighbors, people of kind hearts and simple manners, seem to take pleasure in bestowing upon them….”

In the 19th century, preserving locks of hair served as a way to memorialize loved ones and mark significant milestones, such as a child's first haircut or the passing of a loved one. The hair in this artwork symbolizes the bond between Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake, intricately braided together to represent their relationship. Historian Rachel Hope Cleves sees the braided hair frame as resembling a vine, a symbol of household happiness, and evoking the climbing roses that adorned their cottage (Cleves, 114). Although the lower part of the piece has suffered damage over the years, the remaining holes and hair suggest it might have originally featured more intertwined braids of the women's hair. Charity and Sylvia's expertise in tailoring likely contributed to the skillful craftsmanship of this hairwork, meticulously sewn onto its paper backing.

As Cleves notes, “Charity and Sylvia gained the toleration of their relatives and community not by hiding away but by being public minded.” Charity and Sylvia were active members in their community with Charity being a highly trusted tailor in the fashion business and Sylvia working alongside the business doing seamstress work as well as teaching Sunday school for children. Their community saw them as any other ‘ordinary’ couple. In the spring of 1822, in fact, many members of the community assisted with major renovations to their house (Cleves, 126). Their relationship endured for over 44 years, from their meeting in 1807 until Charity’s death in 1851. The two women are buried together at Weybridge Hill Cemetery, sharing a single tombstone that commemorates their life together. Cleves suggests that the Drake family’s choice to inscribe both names on a shared monument signifies their respect for the relationship, literally setting it in stone for the world to see.

Gravestone of Sylvia Drake & Charity Bryant, Weybridge Hill Cemetery.

The focus of hairwork on individual stories and personal connections has likely contributed to its limited recognition as a cultural artifact. Unlike other forms of art or craft that may have broader themes or messages, hairwork, by its nature, often represents individual stories and familial connections. While these personal narratives imbued hairwork with deep emotional significance for those involved, they may have limited its appeal to a wider audience, who may perceive it as too niche or focused on individual sentiment rather than broader cultural themes. This narrow focus on personal sentimentality may lead some to overlook hairwork’s broader cultural significance; however, Sylvia and Charity’s portrait serves to remind us that, in fact, lived experience provides us the ability to hold space for and respect multiple perspectives. Likewise, it is a reminder that, despite their obscured history, queer people have always existed. In the context of hairwork: as objects, they provide an excellent starting point for introducing the type of personal narratives that help deepen our understanding of historical realities; as an art form, it provides a palpable way to connect to those stories and who we are as individuals through an experience shared across time.

 Diane Irby, 2024
All Rights Reserved

Citations:

Audrey Olson and Ellery Foutch, “Charity & Sylvia” in Perspectives on Hairwork: Historic Vermont, ed. Ellery Foutch (Winter 2021).

“Charity Bryant (1777-1851) – Find A Grave…” Find a Grave. Accessed February 2021. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112580287/charity-bryant​.

Rachel Hope Cleves, ​Charity & Sylvia: a Same-Sex Marriage in Early America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014),​ ix.

“Silhouettes.” Henry Sheldon Museum. Accessed February 2021. https://www.henrysheldonmuseum.org/silhouettes​.

“Sylvia Drake (1784-1868) – Find A Grave…”
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112580393/sylvia-drake

William Cullen Bryant, Letters of a Traveller, or Notes of Things Seen in Europe and America (New York: George G. Putnam, 1850), 136, qtd. in Cleves.