FAMAG 2010.3
Eighteenth-century British ?Carlo Maratta? frame original to the painting, carved giltwood with convex top edge, centred ribbon-&-stave, scotia, and beading at sight edge; gilded. Frame restoration sponsored by Hine Downing Solicitors, Falmouth.
About this work
view without frame
Gainsborough, Thomas RA (1727-1788): Portrait of the Reverend Isaac Donnithorne (1709-1784), oil on canvas, 205.5 x 176.5 cms. Accepted by HM Government in Lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to Falmouth Art Gallery, 2010.
More information about the frame
The ?Carlo Maratta? is a British interpretation of the Roman ?Salvator Rosa? frame. During the eighteenth century the latter design became very popular in Britain, particularly with collectors and connoisseurs who had been on the Grand Tour, seeing it used as a plain ?gallery frame? in villas and palazzi, or in a more opulent form on portraits and history paintings.
It was sympathetic to the architecture of British houses built or decorated in the Palladian style, and was also an extremely versatile design, suiting almost every genre of painting and capable of being produced in more or less ornamented versions. The frame of Gainsborough?s painting is known as a ?semi-Carlo? because of its partial decoration (a ?full Carlo? would have an intricately-carved acanthus ornament added in the scotia). The carved beading at the sight edge neatly echoes the upholstery studding of the sitter?s chair, and the centred ribbon-&-stave enhances the recessive space of the picture.
The ?Carlo Maratta? was the favourite frame of the Cornish artist John Opie, and its success and longevity is clear from Sir William Orpen?s Diploma work, Le Chef de l'Hotel Chatham, Paris, 1921 (Royal Academy, London).
About the Artist
Along with Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough was the leading portrait painter of his generation. The Royal family employed him in preference to Reynolds from 1776. Unlike other major portrait painters he did not employ a team of studio artists, although he did have some assistance from Gainsborough Dupont from 1772.
Gainsborough was able to paint with brushes up to several feet long and his studio had 'scarcely any light'. This technique became a major influence on Kenneth Newton (1933-1984), who is strongly represented in Falmouth's collection.