British picture framemakers, 1750-1950

A selective directory, to be revised and expanded annually. 1st edition November 2007. Contributions are welcome, to Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk. Cross-references to other makers are indicated by adding '(qv)' after the relevant name. Bibliography and resources.

Robert R. Nelson 1840-1846, by 1853-1876, Alfred Nelson 1877-1904, Alfred Nelson & Son 1904-1915 or later. At 32 Nicolson St, Edinburgh 1840-1846, 27 South Hanover St by 1853-1867, 19 South Hanover St 1868-1901 or later, 37 South Hanover St by 1903-1915 or later. Stationers, booksellers, printsellers, artists' colourmen, carvers and gilders.

See British artists' suppliers.

Sefferin Nelson (active 1769, died 1797), 4 Carnaby Market, London 1784, 3 Marshal St, Golden Square 1790-1795. Carver and gilder.

Sefferin Nelson (d.1797), a leading carver and gilder, supplied interior carving and gilding work, as well as picture frames. He married Mary Benson in 1764 at St Mary's Putney, and had four children christened at St James's Westminster between 1765 and 1781. His son, George, was apprenticed to Thomas White of the Farriers' Company in 1792. Sefferin Nelson's will, dated 24 October 1795, was proved 18 May 1797.

Nelson worked on various Robert Adam houses, including Shelburne House in 1769 (DEFM) and Kenwood House in 1773, carrying out Adam's designs for furnishings including frames for looking glasses. He undertook carving work for the 3rd Earl of Egremont, perhaps for Petworth, 1783-6. He supplied two carved picture frames for views of the Elysian gardens at Audley End, 1789, and undertook gilding work at Audley End and in London for Sir John Griffin Griffin, supplying picture frames to Sir John's family as late as 1797 (DEFM).

Nelson worked at Carlton House, 1786-1791 (DEFM; De Bellaigue 1990 p.10). He was listed in 1790 as carver, gilder and framemaker to the Prince of Wales. His trade card with the royal coat of arms from Marshal St described him as 'Carver Gilder & Frame Maker to their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales & the Duke of Cumberland', also offering 'Upholstery in General' (Victoria and Albert Museum, Print Room, E4733-1907, E985-1963). He produced carved picture frames, with 'French Strap leaf' and other ornament, for the Prince of Wales, 1792-3, for works by George Garrard and Richard Cosway (Millar 1969 p.44).

Sources: DEFM; Beard 1981 p.273; Geoffrey Beard, The Work of Robert Adam, 1978, p.22; Julius Bryant, The Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, guidebook, 1990, pp.9, 11; West Sussex Record Office, Petworth House Archives, PHA/7539, 7541; J.D. Williams, Audley End: The Restoration of 1762-1797, Essex Record Office Publications, 1966, pp.39-40, 48.

William Nicholls, see Robert Cribb

F.S. Nichols 1878-1881, F.S. Nichols & Co 1882-1885. At 12a Borough High St, London SE 1878-1881, 14 Borough High St 1882-1885, 12 Railway Approach SE 1885. Picture dealer, then packers and carriers of works of art, picture framemakers.

Frederick Searle Nichols (1834-1906) was born and died at Linton in Cambridgeshire. He was in partnership in a business of millers and corn and coal merchants in Essex in 1863 (London Gazette 12 January 1864). He set up as a picture dealer in London in 1878. The business advertised 'Artistic or Florentine Carved Frames by the most skilful Workmen. Original Patterns in Mouldings', offering 25% savings on West End prices and featuring '22 Carat Gold, either the ordinary or Lemon shade' (The Year's Art 1883-4). The business was last listed in 1885, and by the following year Nichols had reverted to his former trade as a flour merchant from Bridge Chambers, 14 Borough High St.

Eugene Nicolas, 11 Great Titchfield St, London 1836-1872, 32 Great Titchfield St 1873. Carver and gilder, later a decorator.

Eugene Constantine L. Nicolas (c.1811-1894) was born in Paris. He settled in London in his twenties and eventually took British nationality. By March 1836, he appears to have taken over the business of Joseph Crouzet (qv) at 11 Great Titchfield St. His name is sometimes found in directories as Nicholas, rather than Nicolas. His premises were damaged by fire in 1858 (The Times 19 April 1858). From successive censuses, we learn that Nicolas had become a British subject by 1861, that he described himself as a carver and gilder in 1841 and 1851 but as a decorator in 1861 and 1871 (employing eight men in 1861), retiring to Hammersmith by 1881. He died in the Fulham registration district in 1894.

Nicolas undertook framing work in 1836 and 1839 for one of William Etty's patrons, T. Wright of Upton Hall), who in 1836 refers to him as Mr Nicolai, describing the business as 'late Crouzet' (York Public Library, Etty letters nos 104, 207).

Thomas Noble, Fountain-well, 79 High St, Edinburgh 1814-1817, 92 High St 1818-1825, 13 Carrubber's Close 1825-1830, 153 High St 1831-1834. Carver and gilder.

Thomas Noble was apprenticed to James Liddle (qv) and became a Burgess in September 1809 (Houliston 1999 p.75). He appears to have traded initially in partnership with Smith Brand, as Brand & Noble, 1807-14, from 27 and 18 High St, Edinburgh. He then shared an address with Alexander Thomson (qv) at 78 High St, 1814-17, before moving to other addresses on or close to the High St (Houliston 1999 pp.71, 75).

From his trade label, it seems that Noble was willing to undertake a wide range of work: 'Makes, in a variety of patterns Looking Glasses Picture-Frames, Chimney-Pieces, & Fire Skreens. Coats of Arms neatly carved. Paintings cleaned and repaired and old frames regilt. Gold Moldings Pannelling Rooms'. His label with the address, 'Fountain-well 79 High-Street' appears on the frames of Raeburn's portraits, John Campbell of Moriston, and his wife, Marion Campbell (Campbell collection), frames of a type also found on Raeburn's double portrait, General and Mrs Francis Dundas, and on other Raeburns of the mid-1810s. Noble's label is also found in fragmentary form on Raeburn's diploma piece for the Royal Academy, his Boy and Rabbit, another work of the mid-1810s but framed in the distinctive centre-and-corner frames of Raeburn's later work. The presence of his trade label on this diploma piece is a strong indication that Noble worked for Raeburn himself.

An indication of his charges can be obtained from his account which can fairly certainly be associated with Raeburn's two portraits of the late Hon. William Frederick Mackenzie, for which Raeburn was paid 30 guineas each on 1 August 1815 (Thomson 1997 p.209), and Noble the considerable sum of 25 guineas each the following month on 7 September, 'for a pair of full length picture frames richly ornamented & done in burnished gold' (National Archives of Scotland, Seaforth Papers, GD46/15/146).

Samuel Norman. A candidate for a proposed supplement to this Directory, to cover framemakers before 1750. Contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.

Henry Norris, John Norris. Candidates for a proposed supplement to this Directory, to include framemakers active before 1750. Contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.

C.A. Nosotti 1829-1853, Charles Nosotti 1854-1885, Nosotti & Co 1883. At 2 Dean St ('one door from Oxford-street'), Soho, London 1829-1841, 398 Oxford St 1839-1881, 399 Oxford St by 1846-1881, also at 397 Oxford St, renumbered 1881, 93-99 Oxford Street 1881-1890, manufactories and warehouses at 3-4 Great Chapel St W 1862-1883, 102 Dean St 1841, 1855 and elsewhere. Addresses not traced in detail after 1870. Carvers and gilders, looking glass manufacturers, by 1870 also upholsterers and decorators.

Charles Andrew Nosotti (c.1800-1854) was born in Milan and, according to a subsequent claim, was in business in London by 1822. In 1827 he married Amelia Ruenia Garbanati, daughter of Joseph Garbanati (qv), another Italian carver and gilder in London. Initially he seems to have traded as Andrea Nosotti with Francis Nosotti, possibly his brother, as looking glass manufacturers, until the partnership of A. and F. Nosotti, also styled as A. Nosotti & Co, 21 New Compton St, was dissolved in 1826 (The Times 16 November 1826). Andrea Nosotti appears to be the individual listed as A. Nosotti at 19 Great Windmill St in 1828, and as Andrea Nosotti at 2 Dean St in 1829. Francis Nosotti traded at 298 Oxford St as a looking glass and picture framemaker, 1829-31. C.A. Nosotti was listed at 198 Oxford St in 1838, perhaps a typographical error since he appears at 398 Oxford St thereafter.

Charles Andrew Nosotti advertised a sale of his surplus stock when he moved to Oxford St in 1838, including pier and chimney glasses in rich gilt frames, console and pier tables, cornices, picture frames etc (The Times 9 July 1838). His new premises were at the corner of Oxford St and Great Chapel St, according to plans produced by the Metropolitan Building office, c.1845-53 (London Metropolitan Archives, MBO/PLANS/518). In his will, dated 11 July 1853 and proved 18 April 1854, Nosotti requested to be buried in the basilica of St George at Cuggiono, near Milan, presumably his birthplace.

Charles F. Nosotti (c.1831-1909), his son and successor, was listed in the 1861 census as a carver and gilder, living in Hampstead, employing ten men. However, this generation concerns us less since the business extended its activities away from frame making to interior decorating and upholstery, as indicated by Nosotti's trade card, with added date 1862 (Johnson coll. Trade Cards 24 (60). Much the same advertisement appeared in the 1862 Post Office London Directory, p.2378, where it was claimed that the business had been established in 1822. In 1866, Nosotti advertised his manufactory and ten showrooms as containing looking glasses, console tables, window cornices, girandole, picture frames etc, manufactured on the premises (The Times 22 August 1866). By 1870 the business was listed as upholsterer, decorator, house and ornamental painters, by appointment carver and gilder to his late Majesty William IV and to His Imperial Majesty, Napoleon III. Charles Francis Nosotti was involved in bankruptcy proceedings in 1870 (London Gazette 25 January 1870), and again, as Charles Nosotti, upholsterer, in 1890 (The Times 13 August 1890, London Gazette 9 September 1890).

In the 1850s the business was responsible for decorating the chapels of the London Oratory. Nosotti supplied the frames for James Sant's Duc d'Aumalle and Duchesse d'Aumalle, exh.1860 (Royal Collection, see Millar 1992 nos 610-1).

Sources: 'The London Oratory', Survey of London, vol.41, Brompton, 1983, pp.50-70.

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