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.

Harcourt Master Page, see Alfred J. Mucklow

Papier Maché Co Ltd, see Bielefeld

James & Ann Pascall. Candidates for a proposed supplement to this Directory, to cover framemakers before 1750. Contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.

Hugh Paton 1827-1867, Hugh Paton & Sons 1868-1892. At 21 Horse Wynd, Cowgate, Edinburgh 1827-1829, Horse Wynd, College St 1829-1839, 72 Adam Square 1840-1853, 10 Princes St 1854-1861, 9 Princes St 1862-1867, 115 Princes St 1868-1884, 122 Princes St 1884-1892, 5 St James Square from 1893. Printing office and workshop at other addresses 1854-1892. Stationer, printer, printseller, carver and gilder.

See British artists' suppliers.

J.J. Patrickson 1909-1958, J.J. Patrickson & Sons Ltd 1959-1975, Bourlet & Patrickson 1975-1976. At 108 Church St, Chelsea, London SW3 1909-1932, workshops 59 Park Walk, Chelsea 1913-1919, 120 Fulham Rd SW3 1920-1961, 247 Fulham Road 1961-1975, 249 Fulham Road 1975-1976. Picture framemakers.

Jesse John Alexander Francis Patrickson (b.1865), the son of Joseph and Frances Patrickson was born 29 December 1865 and christened 4 February 1866 at St Martin-in-the-Fields. He was already listed as a picture framemaker at the age of 15 in the 1881 census, following the trade of his father, a picture framemaker from Ireland, who was living with his large family in Camberwell. He married in 1888 and was listed as a picture framemaker, living at 10 Gresse St, Tottenham Court Road in the 1891 census and at 63 Stanhope St, St Pancras, with three young daughters, in 1901. It was not until his mid-forties that he set up independently, trading from Church St, Chelsea. Given the long duration of the business, it was presumably managed by his sons from the 1930s. By 1975 the business was trading as Bourlet & Patrickson, with F.D. Patrickson as a director, following its acquisition the previous year by James Bourlet & Sons Ltd (qv), itself by then owned by Sotheby's (The Times 20 September 1974).

Patrickson's frame label can be found on C.R.W. Nevinson's From an Office Window, 1917 (Sir Reresby Sitwell). As part of a wider programme of framing work by war artists following the First World War, Patrickson made a panel pattern frame for a work by Philip Connard in 1919 (Imperial War Museum, bound papers, 'First World War Frames'). His letter heading describes him as 'Practical Picture and Looking-Glass Frame Maker Special Attention given to Customers' own Designs'. His label on the frame of Philip Connard's Edward Meyerstein, 1928 (National Portrait Gallery) gives 108 Church St, Chelsea, as his offices and showrooms and 120 Fulham Road as his workshops.

James Paty, 32 Broadmead, Bristol 1775-1799, also a carver listed at 21 Horse St 1775 and in Broad St 1783-1784. Carver and gilder.

It has been suggested that James Patty or Paty, may have been 'the best frame maker at Bristol' mentioned by Thomas Gainsborough in 1768 (Sloman 2002 p.68). As Howard Colvin states, there was a large and complex family of masons, carvers and architects by the name of Paty active in Bristol throughout the 18th century (Colvin 1997 p.742). There were three generations of carvers, James Paty the elder (d.1746/7), his son James Paty the younger (d.1779), and another man, possibly his son in turn, James Paty (d.1808). One of the latter two individuals may have been born about 1746, judging from the record of an apprenticeship in 1760 (Gunnis 1968 p.294). The youngest James Paty made a lengthy will as James Patty, dated 16 May 1804 and proved 26 January 1808, including a clause desiring that his wife, Grace, should not 'attempt to carry on my said trade or business'. Further work is required on this family of carvers.

There are payments to 'Paty' for carving, painting and gilding picture frames, for portraits of the Queen with the two princes, and of Lord Berkeley, 1768, and for gilding picture frames, 1777, and to James Paty for three picture frames, 1790, for Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire (Gloucestershire Record Office: Badminton Muniments, D2700/QP3/4/6, 3/4/8, 3/9/26, 4/6/4). It is also worth noting that Thomas Paty (c.1713-1789), the Bristol architect and wood and stone carver, who was the elder son of James Paty the elder, carved the frame for William Hogarth's altarpiece for the Church of St Nicholas in Bristol in 1756.

James Peake, 276 Waterloo Road, London SE 1871, 284 Waterloo Road 1872-1879, 302 Waterloo Road SE 1880-1885, 10 Westminster Bridge Road 1882-1884, 276 Westminster Bridge Road 1884-1910, 164 York Road, Lambeth 1911-1935, 100 York Road 1936, 120 Westminster Bridge Road 1937-1944; manufactory at Waterloo Corner, Westminster Road, and at Church Road, Upper Norwood, 1884, 10 Westminster Bridge Road 1882-1885 and other addresses. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker and mount cutter.

James Peake (b. c.1839) was listed in the 1871 census as a carver and gilder, age 32, born in Lambeth, living at 274-6 Waterloo Road, in 1881 in Croydon, with a large family including a daughter, Sarah, age 20, also described as a carver and gilder, and in 1901 in Lewisham. The business advertised as 'Wholesale Carver and Gilder, Picture-Frame Maker and Mount Cutter' (The Year's Art 1884).

Samuel Pearse, Pearse & Biggs, see John Harris

Jean, René and Thomas Pelletier. Candidates a proposed supplement to this Directory, to include framemakers active before 1750. Contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk. For the richly carved frames by the Pelletiers, c.1689-1709, mainly at Boughton House, see Tessa Murdoch, 'Jean, René and Thomas Pelletier, a Huguenot family of carvers and gilders in England 1682-1726', Burlington Magazine, vol.139, 1997, pp.732-42.

Paul Petit. A candidate for a proposed supplement to this Directory, to include framemakers active before 1750. Contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.

Frederick Charles Pierce, see Alfred J. Mucklow

James Pinnick 1850-1856, stationer, Pinnick Brothers 1857-1858, artists' colourmen, carvers and gilders, picture framemakers. At 50 High St, Camden Town, London 1850-1858.

See British artists' suppliers.

Mathew Pitts, see John Coward

Plastic Decoration and Papier Mache Co Ltd, see Bielefeld

Polak Bros 1865-1869. At 48 Broad St, Bloomsbury, London 1865, 18 Stephen St, Tottenham Court Road 1866, 2 Queen's Buildings, Tottenham Court Road 1866, 4 Queen's Building 1867-1869. Steam moulding manufacturers.

In 1867 the partnership between James Alexander Polak and Albert Thomas Polak, trading as Polak Bros, moulding manufacturers, at 4 Queen's Building, Tottenham Court Road, was dissolved (London Gazette 1 November 1867), with James Alexander Polak carrying on the business. James Alexander Polak, 4 Queen's Buildings, carver and gilder, was made bankrupt in 1869 (London Gazette 19 January 1869).

Albert Polak (?c.1846-1891?) appears to have gone on to trade in partnership from 1872 as Pratt & Polak (qv). He is possibly the Albert Thomas Polak who married in Marylebone in 1871, who appears as Albert Polak in the 1881 census as a works of art picture dealer, age 35, at 122 Great Portland St, and who died in 1891 at the age of 45.

Polak Bros 1875-1880. At 14 Peters St, Soho, London 1875, 107 Great Russell St WC 1875-1880, 17 Rathbone Place W 1876-1879. Carvers and gilders.

James Polak (c.1817-1907), born Brussels, and Isaac Polak (b. c.1818?), both from Belgium, appear to have been partners in the business, Polak Bros, and therefore presumably brothers. The business claimed to have been established in 1854. The relationship, if any, with the business of the same name (see above), active 1865-9, remains to be established.

Polak Bros traded as carvers and gilders at 107 Great Russell St from 1875. A business trading as James Polak, picture dealer, occupied premises at 42 Great Coram St in 1861 and then at 107 Great Russell St from 1862 until 1880. Isaac Michael Polak, sued as James Polak, of 107 Great Russell St, dealer in works of art, was made bankrupt in 1869 (London Gazette 29 June 1869). He may be the Isaac Polak, dealer in works of art, age 63, born Belgium, a British subject, at 2 Croftdown Road in the 1881 census. In 1891 James Polak, picture dealer, Dartmouth Park Road NW, late of Charlotte St, was subject to a bankruptcy receiving order (The Times 11 November 1891). James Polak died in the Hendon registration district in 1907.

Polak and Co 1880-1931. At Bedford Passage, Charlotte St, London 1880-1881, 65 Charlotte St, Fitzroy Square 1882-1889, 63 Wardour St 1890-1905, 7 Charles St 1896, 14 Bateman St, Soho Square 1906-1931. Carvers and gilders, later art dealers.

It is not known whether the partners in this business included any of the individuals who traded as Polak Bros (qv) until 1880. In The Studio in 1899, Polak & Co advertised English and French picture frames, Louis XIV and Louis XVI designs (The Studio, vol.16, 15 February 1899, p.xiv). The business advertised in The Year's Art in 1901, 'Gold Frames lent on hire for Exhibitions', in 1905 illustrating three designs with dimensions, prices, and details of gilding, in 1907 claiming, 'French swepts a specialité. Fine collection of old models. Any frame made to artist's own design' and in 1910 describing themselves as manufacturers of English and French frames, advertising an illustrated brochure and styling themselves 'Framemakers to the Royal Academicians & to the Trade'. Much later in 1931 the business advertised, 'All Latest Patterns made on premises from our own exclusive designs. Reproductions a speciality.... Polished Wood Frames. Regular sized frames always in stock', also offering a picture restoration service and a choice collection of modern paintings and drawings (The Year's Art 1931).

Henry Polak, possibly connected with the business, was listed at 19 Rutland Gardens, Tottenham, in the 1901 census as a carver and gilder, and an employer, age 50, born St Pancras, with wife Mary, age 36.

F.A. Pollak 1938-1981, F.A. Pollak Ltd from 1982. At 169 Piccadilly, London SW1 1938-1940, 43 St James's Place SW1 1941-1943, 2 Blue Ball Yard SW1 1944-1952, 20 Blue Ball Yard SW1A 1ND 1953-1994, 3-4 Faulkners Alley EC1M 6DD 1991-1995, 70 Rosebery Avenue EC1R 4RR from 1995. Picture framemakers.

Frederick Anthony Pollak (?1896-1968?), a Czech Jewish artist, moved from Prague to Berlin in about 1925 where he ran a successful frame-making business, the 'Vergolderei Pygmalion', until escaping Germany in 1937 and setting up in London.

At one time or other, Paul Levi, Olaf Lemke and Hermann Guttmann, all from Germany and all to become leading framemakers, worked for Pollak. After his death, his framing business was carried on by his second wife, Mrs Eva Pollak, and by Hans Roeder who had worked in the business for many years, with Theo Böck as foreman. In 1995 Mrs Pollak sold her share in the business. Pollak Ltd then moved to Rosebery Avenue and is now owned by Hans Roeder's son, Alexander Roeder, to whom this account is indebted.

F.A. Pollak made frames for John Merton's exhibition in 1938 and for much of this artist's subsequent work (John Merton, A Journey through an Artist's Life, 1994, pp.17, 293, 295). These frames were in a modern style, somewhat reminiscent of fairly plain Italian Renaissance frames, often with a deliberately introduced surface crackle in his gilt frames and with carefully texturing and distressing of his walnut frames. An example is the painted and gilt frame on John Merton's David Piper, 1983 (National Portrait Gallery).

Pollak also made frames for various works by Pietro Annigoni including The Duchess of Devonshire, 1954 (Chatsworth, Derbyshire). More recently the business has framed James Lloyd's Lord Irvine (Palace of Westminster).

Pollak also sold antique frames to the National Gallery in 1946 (Nicholas Penny, 'The study and imitation of old picture-frames', Burlington Magazine, vol.140, 1998, p.379). He framed the Rubens's altarpiece, The Adoration of the Magi, in the 1960s for the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge. He also carried out much framing work for dealers such as Agnew's in the 1950s, the Arcade Gallery and Leggattt's.

Sources: Information kindly supplied by Alexander Roeder, 10 April 2007, and papers held by the business.

Thomas Ponsonby 1793-1829, T. Ponsonby & Son 1830-1851, Thomas Ponsonby 1844-1857. At Little Pulteney St, Golden Square, London 1793-1794, 33 Little Pulteney St 1794-1795 or later, 17 Piccadilly by 1802-1822, 1 Regent's Circus, Regent St 1820-1825, 3 Regent's Circus 1826-1828, 32 Regent's Circus 1826-1854, 42 Piccadilly 1855-1857. Carvers and gilders, French and English plate glass warehouse.

Thomas Ponsonby (d.1848) and his son, Thomas Thompson Ponsonby (1816-97), worked from Piccadilly and Regent St producing looking glasses and picture frames for more than sixty years. The father was listed in the 1821 Post Office London Directory as 'British-plate-glass-warehouse, and Carver and Gilder to H.R.H. the Duchess of Gloucester', and in 1824 additionally claiming to be by appointment to 'His Majesty' and to Princess Augusta and Princess Sophia of Gloucester. In 1825, he attended a meeting of more than fifty master carvers and gilders who resolved to resist the demands of journeymen for an increase in wages (The Times 30 June 1825). In his lengthy will, dated 26 July 1844 and proved 18 February 1848, Ponsonby described himself as a carver and gilder of 32 Regent's Circus. He referred to his two sons, William Ponsonby for whom he had already provided an annuity, and Thomas Thompson Ponsonby who was bequeathed his 'stock in trade... and working utensils, drawings and plans', at 32 Regent's Circus, where his son was said to be already in occupation.

Thomas T. Ponsonby was listed as a decorator and upholster at 32 Regent St (amended to 34) in the 1851 census, and in Hammersmith, as retired from business, in the 1861 census. Thomas Ponsonby & Co, house decorators, were listed at Tredegar Road, Bow in the 1865 London Post Office Directory. By 1881, Ponsonby was listed in the census as an auctioneer's manager, living in Deptford.

In 1807 Thomas Ponsonby supplied a chimney glass for Frogmore and in 1839 he submitted a bill for £1492 for work at Buckingham Palace including new large gilt picture frames, composition mouldings and tablets to picture frames (DEFM). From 1845 to 1852, Thomas Ponsonby, presumably the son, was further employed as carver and gilder to Queen Victoria. He supplied numerous picture frames (Millar 1992, see index p.356, mistakenly listed as William Ponsonby), including James Duffield Harding's The Great Exhibition Building, 1851, Edwin Landseer's Princess Alice Asleep, 1843, John Phillip's Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 1852, Franz Xaver Winterhalter's Prince Frederick William of Prussia, 1851, Frances Countess of Gainsborough, 1851, and various copies, 1850-4, as well as Queen Victoria's Princess Helena, 1851, and Simplicity, 1852 (Millar 1992 nos 300, 406, 551, 866, 922, 1054). Another picture, Winterhalter's Maharaja Dalip Singh, 1854 (Millar 1992 no.916) also has a frame by Ponsonby. His work went beyond picture framing to include interior decoration and the supply of furniture at Buckingham Palace, 1850-1.

Other patrons included Chandos Leigh, 1815-16, and the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, 1820 (DEFM).

Sources: Geoffrey de Bellaigue, 'Chinoiserie at Buckingham Palace', Apollo, vol.101, 1975, pp.386, 390-1, see also Joy 1969 p.684; Christopher Maxwell, 'Chinoiserie at Buckingham Palace in the nineteenth century', Burlington Magazine, vol.149, 2007, pp.388-90; Lucy Whitaker and Jonathan Marsden, 'Re-framing the Royal Pictures', Apollo, vol.166, September 2002, p.56 (for Winterhalter's Maharaja Dalip Singh).

John Ponzini, see Andrew Vacani

William Mailes Power 1885-1900, W.M. Power & Co Ltd 1900-1901, W.M. Power 1902-1913, W.M. Power Ltd 1914-1925, W.M. Power 1926-1927. At 83 (& other nos) York St, Westminster, London SW 1885-1892, 4-5 York St 1896-1903, 121 Victoria St, Westminster 1903-1908, Victoria Gallery, 123 Victoria St 1909-1919, 6 Royal Opera House Arcade, Pall Mall 1914-1915, Victoria Galleries, Carey St, Vincent Square, Westminster 1921-1922, Victoria Galleries, Tramway Terminus, Victoria 1923, 11 Old Bond St 1924-1925, 12 Carey St 1924-1925, 66 Victoria St 1925, Windsor House, Victoria St 1926-1927. Works and studios at other addresses. Carvers and gilders, picture framemakers, picture and print restorers.

William Mailes Power (b.1860) was born in Cheltenham, the son of William Henry Power, carver and gilder. During his career, he occupied many different premises, mainly in and around Victoria St in Westminster, held several Royal appointments from 1902, faced a lawsuit in 1913 and ended up in bankruptcy. He was listed as a carver and gilder with his father at 15 Marsham St in the 1881 census, as a picture restorer at 83 York St in 1891, and at 4 and 5 York Street in 1901. In August 1900, his company W.M. Power & Co Ltd was wound up voluntarily (London Gazette 4 September 1900).

Power advertised extensively in The Year's Art: 'By Special Appointment to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Carver and Gilder, Picture and Print Cleaner and Restorer, Picture Frame Manufacturer, Dealer and Expert' in 1903, claiming to have been established in 1854, presumably a reference to his father's business, and advertising in 1911, 'By Special Appointment to His Majesty King George V and Her Majesty the Queen, Her Majesty Queen Alexandra and His Late Majesty King Edward VII'. In 1920 he styled himself as Lt-Col. W.M. Power, F.R.S.A., and the company as 'Frame Specialists'. The business claimed royal appointments to the Prince of Wales 1902, Edward VII 1907, the Princess of Wales 1908, Queen Alexandra 1909, Queen Mary 1911, and the Prince of Wales 1921.

W.M. Power Ltd was wound up voluntarily in 1924 (London Gazette 6 January 1925). Power was subject to a bankruptcy receiving order in 1925 (London Gazette 6 May 1925). S.F. Atkins & Co advertised as successors to W.M. Power, giving the address of their works and studios as 'Power's Corner' in York Street, Westminster (trade label, Johnson coll. Trade Cards 24 (35).

Pratt & Polak 1872-1878. At 42 Windmill St, Tottenham Court Road, London 1872-1877, 1a Berners St 1878. Carvers and gilders, framemakers.

Albert Polak is probably to be identified with Albert Thomas Polak who was a partner in Polak Bros (qv) until 1867. The partnership between Albert Polak and Jacob Pratt, trading as Pratt & Polak, carvers and gilders at 1a Berners St, was dissolved in December 1878, with the business being carried on from 16 Broad St, Golden Square by Jacob Pratt alone (London Gazette 17 December 1878).

Pratt & Polak advertised 'the new French "Fluted" Frames' in 1875 (The Artists' Directory 1875, p.187). The business supplied the frame for Sydney Prior Hall's Risalder Muhammad Afzul Khan, 1877 (Royal Collection, see Millar 1992 no.290).

Robert Pritty, see Blundell & Pritty

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