FAMAG 1923.4


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Nineteenth-century British Rococo-revival frame, with swept rails, rocaille corners, foliate centres, and flower sprigs on a hatched ground; small sanded frieze; acanthus leaf-tip moulding, and gilt slip to sight; all ornament applied composition; oil-gilded.

About this work


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Charles, James (1851-1906): The Cottage, signed, oil on canvas, 33.3 x 47 cms. Presented in 1923 by Alfred A. De Pass in memory of his sons.


More information about the frame

A typically Victorian stock frame, this type of pattern revives in moulded composition ornament the refined carved wooden designs of the eighteenth century. The economic depression caused at the turn of the nineteenth century by the Napoleonic wars had had a profound effect upon the market for luxury goods in Europe. The 600 carvers working in late eighteenth-century London had diminished by 1813 to 11 master carvers and 60 journeyman (day labourers); meanwhile, the industrial advances in wood-turning machines and the mechanical pressing-out of applied plaster or composition ornament meant that their workshops were rapidly supplanted by factory production.

There was an public eager for the results of this progress; the middle and lower middle classes, enriched by the industrial revolution and aspiring to decorate their homes as the upper classes did, were hungry to purchase such charming genre and domestic scenes as Charles painted, and to frame them in an appropriate style. Moulded ornament gave an opulent effect at relatively little expense, and gold leaf was often replaced by imitation ?Dutch leaf? or schlagmetal.

About the Artist

In his book 'The Complete Writings on Art', Walter Sirkert writes "If I were asked what man of my generation had attained the highest achievement as a painter, I should be compelled to name Mr James Charles" James Henry Charles was born in Warrington, Lancashire. He studied at the Heatherly School of Art, the Royal Academy Schools and in Paris at the Academie Julian. He was greatly influenced by the 'plein air' movement and mainly painted portraiture and scenes of rural life. In 1889 he was awarded the Silver Medal at the Paris International Exhibition for his painting 'Will it rain?' and in 1891 he was elected an Associate of the Societe Nationale des Beux Arts.