FAMAG 2001.7
A cabinetmaker?s frame, with complex moulding of scotia, bead and step; frieze; fillet and ogee to sight edge; finished with staining and polishing, with gilded sight edge; supplied by Paul Mitchell Limited (r).
About this work
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Hewlett, Francis (1930-2012): Self Portrait, signed and dated 1978 (dated on the reverse), inscribed signed on reverse with initials and dated 2.7.78, oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cms. Presented by Hine Downing Solicitors.
More information about the frame
This is a modern replica of a seventeenth-century Netherlandish cabinetmaker?s frame, used ? just as it might have been originally ? for a very small portrait, which could hang with a group of similar paintings in a study or antechamber.
These frames were originally made either from indigenous polished fruit woods, or from offcuts of exotic woods such as ebony and palisander, which began to make their way from the Dutch colonies back to the sawmills of Amsterdam during the seventeenth century. They were made, not by the carvers and gilders who traditionally produced picture frames, but by the joiners who made wooden wainscoting, panelling and cupboards or cabinets ? hence their name.
Dutch houses often had quite light interiors, as, although the façades of townhouses in the bigger cities were relatively narrow, they were built with large windows at both ends, the daylight being conducted through an enfilade of rooms by pale painted walls and looking-glasses. In such settings, gold leaf was less of a functional requirement; also it was found that a succession of hollow and stepped mouldings in a highly polished wood could throw light onto a picture surface in a similar way to burnished gilding.
In the late nineteenth and the twentieth century, natural wooden mouldings enjoyed a fresh period of popularity, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement. In these cases the wood was often stained, but not polished so highly as in the seventeenth century. The result, as here, is a softly-textured setting where the varying tones of the wood complement the flesh tones of the portrait, and act as an effective foil to the colours of clothes and background.