FAMAG 2010.11


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A British ?Carlo Maratta? frame in the style known as a ?full Carlo?, either contemporary with the painting or perhaps earlier; with plain convex top edge, bound at corners; beading; acanthus-&-shield ornament in scotia; bevel to sight; insert of slip; oil-gilt finish. A British ?Carlo Maratta? frame in the style known as a ?full Carlo?, either contemporary with the painting or perhaps earlier; with plain convex top edge, bound at corners; beading; acanthus-&-shield ornament in scotia; bevel to sight; insert of slip; oil-gilt finish.

About this work


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Sargent, John Singer RA RWS (1856-1925): Portrait of Charles Napier Hemy, signed and dated 1905, inscribed to my friend Napier Hemy John S. Sargent, oil on canvas, 67.3 x 51.8cm. Purchased with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Art Fund, MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, Cornwall Heritage Trust, The Tanner Trust and generous donations from local supporters.


More information about the frame

This frame could have been chosen by either Sargent or Hemy. Sargent, like most portrait painters, tended to select the frames for his work. His early work used Salon patterns; he began collecting antique frames, but he was just as likely to use contemporary replicas or interpretations.

Sargent moved to London in 1886, and at first used the framemaker W.A. Smith, 20 Mortimer Street, London. When Smith retired in 1891 Sargent started using C. M. May, St Anne?s Court, Soho, and Chapman Bros of Chelsea.

The present frame appears to be a contemporary version of the long-lived ?Carlo Maratta? frame, in the form known as a ?full Carlo?, with plain rail, small moulding and acanthus-&-shield ornament in the scotia. Unusually, the corners of the rail are bound, the small moulding is a run of beading rather than the traditional ribbon-&-stave, and the sight edge (where the beading would normally sit) is unornamented. The habitual Victorian slip has been added under the sight edge, which may indicate that this is actually an older frame which has been adapted to this painting, or that this is a free version of the style of the same date as the painting.

The choice of pattern here is unusual for Sargent as he tended to prefer frames in the French style, and also used the odd Whistler frame for his portraits. However, the ?Carlo Maratta? had a long history of association with British portraits, since being employed by Reynolds and Gainsborough in the eighteenth century, and was ? because of its versatility ? also used for many other genres. Photographs of Hemy suggest that he might have used ?Marattas? for his seascapes, and that the present frame might therefore be his, rather than Sargent?s, choice.

About the Artist

Sargent was described by William Starkweather as 'An American, born in Italy, educated in France, who looks like a German, speaks like an Englishman ans paints like a Spaniard.' Sargent studies in Paris under Carolus-Duran, where he adopted the maxim: 'express the maximum by means of the minimum'. He was at the forefront of Impressionism, but perhaps because of his success as Europe's leading portrait painter, his contribution to Modernism is greatly underrated. He was friends with a number of Falmouth artists and exhibited with them at the first Falmouth Art Gallery in Grove Place.