FAMAG 2006.16
A nineteenth-century British artist?s frame; architrave profile with flat top edge; steeply canted moulding; frieze with engraved border; canted step to small insert or slip at sight; finished in silver-leaf toned with a soft, brown finish. A nineteenth-century British artist?s frame; architrave profile with flat top edge; steeply canted moulding; frieze with engraved border; canted step to small insert or slip at sight; finished in silver-leaf toned with a soft, brown finish.
About this work
view without frame
Brangwyn, Sir Frank RA RWS HRSA PRBA ROI RSW HRMS (1867-1956): Constructing South Pier, Mevagissey, signed and dated 1888, oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms. Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Art Collections Fund, and the MLA/V & A Purchase Grant Fund. © Estate of the artist. All rights reserved 2011 / Bridgeman Art Library.
More information about the frame
Brangwyn was an accomplished craftsman and designer in many branches of the decorative arts, creating everything from electric light boards to stained glass, interior decoration to chairs, and clocks to carpets. It is inconceivable that such a versatile artist should not have designed his own frames, and we know in this case that this is the original frame for the painting. It was supplied by the well-known framemakers Chapman Bros, Carvers, Gilders & Framemakers, 251 King's Road, London SW.
Frames on other works by Brangwyn employ similarly plain, linear designs, where engraved lines or very small reeds are employed to give the effect ? as here ? of the wash-line mount on a watercolour. An example can be found on Brangwyn?s 1891 oil painting of a lifeboat being readied for launching (Iziko Museums of Cape Town), which is a scotia frame of gilded oak, incorporating fillets, reeds and stepped mouldings.
The present frame has the very smooth finish of leaf (here, silver-leaf) over gesso, giving a surface similar to ormolu or a precious metal. This creates a tension with the graphic, choppy brushwork Brangwyn employs to describe the stormy sea, whilst the cool gold finish tones with the greens and greys of the painting.