Sir George James Frampton

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir George James Frampton

by Sir George James Frampton
black chalk, 1894
19 1/4 in. x 15 1/4 in. (490 mm x 386 mm) uneven
Given by Marion Harry Spielmann, 1939
Primary Collection
NPG 3043

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

This portraitback to top

In youth Frampton preferred to be known not as a sculptor but as an art worker. Here he presents himself in a manner that he, and others, used for low relief, inscribed portrait plaques. Notable examples are his George Holt Memorial (University of Liverpool, 1897) and Charles Keene (Tate Britain). The drawing shows him working out lettering associated with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and the Art Workers Guild, of which he was to become a Master, and which was founded as a link between art and architecture

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Rideal, Liz, Insights: Self-portraits, 2005, p. 60 Read entry

    Frampton was a scholar and a craftsman who was involved in the Arts and Crafts movement. His elegant and patriotic stone memorial to Edith Cavell, executed for her part in helping Allied soldiers to escape from Brussels in 1915, stands opposite the main entrance to the National Portrait Gallery in St Martin’s Place. His signature is carved at its base, together with the date, 1920, in similar style to his pencil self-portrait, here, which is inscribed ‘Geo Frampton by himself Jan 1884’. The format of this self-portrait echoes Holbein’s portraits.

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 228

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1894back to top

Current affairs

Following Gladstone's resignation, Queen Victoria calls on the Liberal MP Archibald Primrose, the 5th Earl of Rosebery to become Prime Minister, a position he reluctantly accepts. His government is largely unsuccessful as the Tory-dominated House of Lords stop the whole of the Liberal's domestic legislation, and his foreign policy plans are defeated by internal Liberal disagreements.

Art and science

The Prince of Wales opens Tower Bridge, built over the Thames to improve access to the growing commercial district of the East End. The bridge was constructed from two bascules, or leaves, which could be raised to allow ships to pass underneath.
Rudyard Kipling's hugely popular collection of children's stories and poems, The Jungle Book, is published. The stories, based on Kipling's own experiences in India, have been adapted many times.

International

The arrest and court-martial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer, opens up divisions in France over anti-semitism continuing until Dreyfus's exoneration in 1906. The French President Sadi Carnot is assassinated by an Italian anarchist in Lyon.
Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia following the death of Alexander III.
Japan and China go to war over control of Korea, with the more modern Japanese army winning an easy victory.

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