FAMAG 1000.17
A lunette-shaped frame with architrave profile, the frieze ornamented with a Greek fret pattern, and with a hound couchant on the crest; finished with burnished water-gilding.
About this work
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Newton, J.: Neo-classical fan design after Guido's Aurora, signed and dated 1802 (dated September), gouache on vellum, 43.5 x 61 cms.
More information about the frame
This is an extremely appropriate frame for its contents, but difficult to date. There was a fashion for framing painted fans in the second half of the nineteenth century, and some of the Impressionists produced painted frame designs (for example, Pissarro); this particular example may have been framed near the date of its execution, in the later nineteenth century, or even in the twentieth. The applied Greek fret ornament is problematic, in that it has not been fitted to the dimensions of the frieze (notably at the corners), and parts of it are arbitrarily oriented in different directions. Similarly the dog may not be part of the original design, although he fits neatly on the central cartouche; he may originally have sat on something with a slightly smaller diameter. Given that he does belong in his current home, he presumably has some attributive, armorial or emblematic significance; either to the family name or crest of the owner, or in respect of a gift implying fidelity in love.