FAMAG 2004.16
An antique British eighteenth-century 'Carlo Maratta' frame; carved in pine with stylised leaf-tip back moulding, convex top moulding, pearls, carved acanthus leaf-&-tongue moulding applied in scotia, ribbon-&-stave ornament, ogee sight moulding; finish is oil- and water-gilding with sanded top rail; supplied by Paul Mitchell Limited. An antique British eighteenth-century 'Carlo Maratta' frame; carved in pine with stylised leaf-tip back moulding, convex top moulding, pearls, carved acanthus leaf-&-tongue moulding applied in scotia, ribbon-&-stave ornament, ogee sight moulding; finish is oil- and water-gilding with sanded top rail; supplied by Paul Mitchell Limited.
About this work
view without frame
Opie, John RA (1761-1807): A beggar boy, oil on canvas, 91.3 x 71.2 cms. Purchased with grant aid from the Heritage Lottery Fund, MLA/V & A Museum Purchase Fund, The Art Fund, Beecroft Bequest, Cornwall Heritage Trust and The Canterbury Auction Galleries.
More information about the frame
At some point this picture had been placed into a cut-down landscape frame with a larger rebate at the top of the painting. Although only a little of the top of the painting was obscured by the slip it dramatically changed the composition to a format that looked square. This meant that the figure looked more tightly enclosed and the dramatic touch of colour in the top corner could not be seen.
After the successful John Opie exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, in 2007 it was clear that the artist?s favourite choice of frame was a ?Carlo Maratta?. Thanks to the grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation an original eighteenth-century ?Carlo Maratta? frame was purchased from Paul Mitchell Limited. The transformation was both dramatic and impressive.
The ?Carlo Maratta? frame became very popular with the British on the Grand Tour. It was a Roman style and sympathetic to collectors whose houses were built or decorated in the Palladian style. The endurance of the ?Carlo Maratta? frame can be seen on the painting Le Chef de l?Hôtel Chatham, Paris (1921) by Sir William Orpen, RA (1878?1931), which was presented to the Royal Academy as his Diploma work.
About the Artist
OPIE was Cornwall's first famous painter, and the only Cornish artist to be honoured with a burial at St Paul's cathedral, where he lies close to the tomb of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Anthony Van Dyck. His pioneering understanding of light and shade has had a profound influence on artists that followed him.
John Opie as a young man burst onto the London art scene, where he was known as 'The Cornish Wonder'. He was patronised by the Royal Family and so impressed Sir Joshua Reynolds that he considered him to be 'like Caravaggio and Velasquez in one'.