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

Andrew Vacani 1868-1872, J. Woodgate and Vacani 1873-1878, Andrew Vacani 1878-1886, Paul Vacani 1887-1911. At 26 Southampton Row, London 1868-1871, 94 High Holborn 1872, 95-96 High Holborn 1873-1885, 22 Dean St 1882-1890, 157 Fulham Road SW 1891-1911. Carver and gilders, picture framemakers, art dealers etc.

Two generations of this family of Italian origin, Andrew Vacani and his son Paul, traded as picture framemakers but also more widely as art and furniture dealers. At one stage the father was in partnership with Josiah Woodgate. The Vacanis' best known client was Sir Edward Burne-Jones.

Andrew Pasquale Vacani (c.1824-1903) appears to have worked initially for another Italian carver, John Ponzini, at whose address, 22 Hatton Garden, he was listed as a shopman, gilder and carver, in the 1861 census. He was recorded as a carver and gilder in the 1871 and 1891 censuses, and as a furniture dealer, aged 56, born 'Lake of Como, Italy' in 1881. He was then living at 95 High Holborn with his English-born wife, Susan, and son Paul, age 26, employed as a clerk. Andrew Vacani's partnership with Josiah Woodgate was described in the 1873 directory as 'Dealers and importers of antique furniture, curiosities & works of art, looking glass & picture frame makers & artistic decorators, carvers, gilders & upholsterers'. The partnership with Woodgate, trading as J. Woodgate and Vacani at 95-96 High Holborn, was dissolved in March 1878 (London Gazette 2 April 1878). Andrew Vacani, described as a dealer in furniture and articles of vertu, carver and gilder, of 95-96 High Holborn and 22 Dean St, was subject to debt proceedings in 1882 (London Gazette 16 June 1882). He continued to trade, referring for many years to his business being 'late Woodgates'.

Correspondence between the dealer, Charles Augustus Howell, and the printmaker, Richard Josey, mentions Vacani, 1880, who acted for Howell, in purchasing old master paintings.

The son, Andrew Francis Paul Vacani (1855-1914), known as Paul, was living at 22 Dean St, his father's house, when arrested in a raid on a gambling club in 1889 (The Times 18 September 1889). He had set up at 157 Fulham Road as a carver and gilder by the time of the 1891 census, and was listed there as a fine art dealer in 1901 with his father, now in retirement.

Edward Burne-Jones seems to have used both Andrew and Paul Vacani at one time or another between 1879 and 1890. In correspondence with Burne-Jones in 1884, William Graham asks if 'old' Vacani has brought back Cophetua, and in an undated letter he refers to Vacani calling concerning a frame design (Garnett 2000, letters B28, B55). Burne-Jones himself mentions Vacani, possibly the son, Paul, in about 1890, when writing to William De Morgan to ask if Vacani may copy a frame from Florence in De Morgan's possession (A.M.W. Stirling, William De Morgan and his Wife, 1922, p.71). Burne-Jones's Annunciation, 1879, has the label of Paul Vacani, 22 Dean St (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, see Morris 1994 pp.13-14).

Paul Vacani's frame trade label from 157 Fulham Road gives an idea of the extensive range of his business: 'Carver, Gilder and Art Frame Maker, Specialist in Tempieto Pradella and Stucco Frames. Dealer in Old & Modern Furniture, Bronzes, China, Pictures & Articles of Vertu, Bric a Brac, &c. Old work renovated cleaned & made equal to new. Workmen sent to all parts and kept on the premises' (a damaged example can be found on William Boxall's Lewis Cubitt, 1845, National Portrait Gallery, presumably a reframing; another example on the frame of a painting by Sir Edward Poynter, information from Keith Holmes, 1994). Vacani also used a much plainer oval frame label, simply reading in capitals, 'Paul Vacani Frame Maker and Gilder 157, Fulham Road, S.W.' (example on Louisa Starr-Canziani's Brian Houghton Hodgson, exh.1872, National Portrait Gallery).

Sources: Martin Hopkinson, 'Richard Josey and Charles Augustus Howell', Print Quarterly, vol.20, 2003, p.256, n.19.

Robert Varley, see Charles David Soar

Thomas Vialls, 'The Golden Head', Great Newport St, London by 1756-1764 or later, Leicester Square by 1767-1780 or later. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker.

Thomas Vialls (1719-81), son of Amos and Hannah, was christened at St Martin-in-the-Fields. He was a framemaker of considerable importance in the late eighteenth century for his wide-ranging contacts and the quality of his work. Vialls's name is also found spelt Vials and Vial's.

Vialls married Francis Hue in 1752 at St George's, Mayfair, and they had a son, Thomas, born 1758, who presumably died young since he was not mentioned in his father's will. Vialls applied to the carver and designer, Thomas Johnson (qv), in about 1755 or 1756, to make all his drawings and to undertake the principal part of his work, according to Johnson, and subsequently gave him business of upwards of £150 a year for more than twenty-one years (Simon 2003 p.7). He took an apprentice, Stephen Dawson, in 1758 (Boyd). By 1767 he had moved from Great Newport St to the east side of Leicester Square, sometimes called Leicester Fields. He took out insurance with the Sun Fire Office in May 1780 on his house and other property in Clapham.

At his death in 1781, Vialls's younger brother, Amos, and his 'worthy friend', William Marlow the artist, were executors to his will, made 31 March 1779 and proved 28 June 1781; he appears to have been relatively wealthy, making various bequests to his nephew, also Thomas Vialls, and to his nieces. He left considerable leasehold property and other assets, requesting to be interred in Clapham churchyard in the same grave as his late wife. He bequeathed to his niece, Sarah Vialls, his leasehold property in Leicester Square, together with his 'stock, utensils and instruments in my trade or business'. She married William Beaumont (qv), who described himself as Vialls's nephew and successor (Simon 1996 p.132).

'Mr Vial's is more amongst the Great, more Elegant in Taste and I guess in price', wrote William Constable's agent about an order for a table frame for Burton Constable in about 1765, providing an indication of the high reputation Vialls enjoyed (see Simon 1996 p.132). The 'great' presumably numbered the 3rd Duke of Dorset who in 1770 ordered a very rich frame for his full-length portrait (Knole, Kent) by Joshua Reynolds at a cost of £26.5s and had numerous smaller pictures by Reynolds framed by Vialls during the rest of the decade, including the portrait, Wang-y-Tong (Knole), which appears as 'the Chinese picture' in Vialls's bill in 1776: 'a half length oyl gold Italian moulding frame, 4 1/2 in. broad, carved with loose foliage and ribbons' at a cost of £3.18s (see National Portrait Gallery website, A Guide to Picture Frames at Knole).

Vialls supplied picture frames to Lord Folkestone for Longford Castle from 1756 (Country Life, vol.70, 1931, p.717) and undertook carving work for Wilton House in 1758-9, Woburn Abbey in 1760 and 1767, and Shelburne House, Berkeley Square, 1766-8. He was paid for work for Thomas Pelham of Stanmer in 1767-8. He made two 'large bold Burnish Gold Carlo maratt picture frames with spandrels' for £16.16s for Burton Constable in 1765 (information from David Connell, 15 October 1999). He also worked for Edward Knight, Kidderminster, 1765-71 (Penny 1986 p.813) and he was paid for picture frames for Lord Darnley at Cobham Hall, Kent, in 1768, including for Nathaniel Dance's portrait of Lady Darnley (DEFM).

Vialls was a leading supplier of picture frames to such artists as Sir Joshua Reynolds and George Stubbs. He was conveniently close to Reynolds's studio in Leicester Square. Reynolds ordered frames from Vialls for his two Dilettanti Society groups at a cost of £21 each, though a dispute over the bill meant that the frames went unpaid for years. Vialls was mentioned in Joshua Reynolds's correspondence in 1780.

Vialls also framed some of George Stubbs's large enamels in 1780 at the instigation of Josiah Wedgwood to a pattern which met with Stubbs's enthusiastic approval (Simon 1996 p.96). Vialls had links with other leading artists. In 1764 he framed two pastels by Catherine Read for James Grant of Grant, and also two drawings by William Marlow (Simon 1996 p.132). Both Marlow and Sawrey Gilpin used Vialls as a contact address in the exhibition catalogues of the Society of Artists, Marlow from 1764 to 1780 and Gilpin in 1768 ('At Windsor, enquire at Mr. Vial's'). Vialls supplied the frames for Gilpin's pictures at Calke Abbey in 1775 and was responsible for packing Gilpin's pictures at the Society of Artists exhibition in 1771.

Sources: Guildhall Library: Records of Sun Fire Office, vol.282 no.428784; Lucy Wood, Catalogue of Commodes. The Lady Lever Art Gallery, 1994, pp.133-4, n.23, 25, for Thomas Pelham; Lionel Cust, History of the Society of Dilettanti, 1898, p.222; John Ingamells, The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 2002, p.90; Catherine Wills, 'Stable Ancestry', Country Life, vol.183, 9 March 1989, p.148.

John Vokins 1820-1836, John & William Vokins 1837-1910. At 5 Upper Rathbone Place, Fitzroy Square, London 1820-1826, 5 John St, Oxford St 1828-1858, renamed and renumbered 1858/9, 14 & 16 Great Portland St 1859-1896, 3 Great Castle St 1849-1866,10 King St, Pall Mall 1894-1910. Carvers and gilders, picture framemakers, dealers in works of art.

John Vokins (1788-1832) set up a carving and gilding business which under his two sons, John Henry Vokins (1810/11-78) and William Vokins (1815-95), became a leading firm of art dealers, specialising in watercolours. The business lasted into the third generation under James Theodore Vokins (1844-1910), William's son.

John Vokins is said to have been apprenticed to John Harris (qv). He describes himself in his will, dated 2 January 1828 and proved 3 January 1833, as a carver and gilder of 5 John St, referring also to his house at 5 Upper Rathbone Place. He makes mention of his late mother, Margaret Vokins, and in a codicil refers to his two sons, John and William, leaving to John, under certain conditions, 'all my stock in trade, frames, pictures, except those drawn and painted by my son William which I give my said son William, utensils, implements of trade and all articles and effects of that kind, also my said trade and business as a carver and gilder and the shop and premises adjoining to my said house in John Street'.

John Henry Vokins was listed as a carver, gilder and picture restorer in Pigot's 1839 Directory, and as a carver and gilder, age 40, at 5 John St in the 1851 census. William Vokins was a noted judge of English watercolours (Jeremy Maas, The Victorian Art World in Photographs, 1984, p.201). He was listed in the 1851 and 1861 censuses as a dealer in works of art at 3 Great Castle St, and in 1871 at Porchester Terrace, Paddington.

John Henry Vokins died in 1878. The subsequent partnership between William Vokins, Arthur Vokins and James Theodore Vokins, in business as J. & W. Vokins, dealers in pictures and other works of art and picture framemakers at 14 and 16 Great Portland St, was dissolved as regards Arthur Vokins on 31 December 1885 (London Gazette 12 January 1886). Arthur Vokins (1839-1913), son of John Henry Vokins, went on to trade independently as a printseller and fine art dealer. Following the death of William Vokins in 1895, his executors put the leases of 14 & 16 Great Portland St and 1-3 Great Castle St up for the sale (The Times 2 January 1896), and then sold his modern pictures (The Times 10 March 1896). James Theodore Vokins (1844-1910), William's only son, continued trading as J. & W. Vokins until shortly before his death in 1910, when the goodwill in the business was acquired by another firm of dealers, Pawsey & Payne.

J. & W. Vokins advertised a number of special devices for displaying prints and drawings, such as their 'Improved Standard Folio Frames, to contain a number of Drawings or Prints, making one frame answer the purpose of many, superseding the use of a portfolio, with the advantage of showing each work of Art framed and glazed, and placed at any angle' (The Art-Union August 1845 p.251). A notice from the 1851 Great Exhibition for J. & W. Vokins advertised their 'Registered Mechanical Frames' for displaying drawings and engravings; they were trading as 'Carvers, Gilders, and Dealers in Works of Art' from 5 John St and 3 Great Castle St (Johnson coll. Trade Cards 24 (65). Their 'mechanical' frames were advertised as late as 1875 (The Times 2 March 1875).

The business held an appointment as carver and gilder to the Duke of Sussex, who died in 1843, and subsequently to Queen Victoria. It supplied numerous frames to Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort (Millar 1992, see index p.357), including for work by Sir Edwin Landseer 1850-1, Emma Richards 1851-3, Heinrich von Angeli 1875-8, and Valentine Prinsep 1877. It also held an appointment to the Prince of Wales.

Other major clients included Thomas Miller, who purchased paintings by John Frederick Lewis through Vokins in 1855, and John Jones (1800-82), who bequeathed his collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum, including paintings framed in the Louis Seize revival style. Examples in the Jones collection marked with the stencil of J. & W. Vokins, carvers and gilders to the Royal Family, include Frederick Goodall's The Bagpiper, 1847; examples labelled by appointment to HRH Prince of Wales include W.P. Frith's The Village Merry-Making, and Thomas Webster's The Lesson, 1831. Other Jones pictures with Vokins's stencil include Frith's Sancho Panza tells a tale to Duke and Duchess, 1850, and his Measuring Heights. Some of these works are examples of Jones's reframing of pictures to give a distinctive appearance to his collection.

The rococo-style frame on Margaret Gillies's large miniature, J.H. Leigh Hunt, exh.1839, has the seal of J. & W. Vokins, 5 John Street (National Portrait Gallery). Simeon Solomon's watercolour, The Mystery of Faith, exh.1871 (Lady Lever Art Gallery) bears J. & W. Vokins's label, by appointment to HM the Queen, 'Looking Glass & Picture Frame Manufacturers. Dealers in Drawings & Works of Art. 14 & 16 Gt Portland Street, London'.

Sources: DEFM; obituaries of William Vokins and James Theodore Vokins, The Times 30 October 1895 and 1 November 1910; Victoria Doran, 'Frith's frames and the business of frame-making', in Mark Bills and Vivien Knight, William Powell Frith: painting the Victorian age, 2006, pp.157-9.

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