British picture framemakers, 1630-1950 - A

A prominent carving and gilding business, active over two generations in the later 18th century, begun by John Adair (d.1771), and then continued by his son, William Robert Adair (d.1807), who was apparently initially in partnership with his mother. The business is not discussed here in detail since it is treated in the Dictionary of English Furniture Makers.

John Adair took Stephen Wall as apprentice for a premium of £5 in 1759, Benjamin Talbot for £15.15s in 1760 and James Lowe for £40 in 1766 (Boyd). Adair made various bequests in his will, made 9 January 1770 and proved 24 April 1771, including a book of drawing to his son, William Robert Adair, on condition that he enter into partnership with his mother, Mary, who took out insurance with the Sun Fire Office on the premises, The Golden Head in Wardour St, in March 1777, including the very high figure of £70 for printed books. William seems to have entered into a partnership for some years, presumably with his mother but trading as John & William Adair. He continued the business in his own name from about 1777 until his death in 1807. William Adair appears to have had no direct heir, making bequests to his sisters and their families, including to his nephew Thomas Ayliffe Gee, chairmaker and 'Turner in Ordinary to the King'.

John Adair worked on various houses where James ‘Athenian' Stuart was architect, including Nuneham Courtenay, c.1756-64, Holdernesse House, London, for the 4th Earl of Holdernesse, 1765-8, Shugborough House, Staffordshire, 1763-9, and various other London houses, 1764-80. He also worked on Robert Adam houses. The 1st Duke of Northumberland complained to Adam in 1764 about ‘those Carved Mouldings... so ill executed by Mr Adair', which had been made for Syon House. At Audley End John Adair supplied interior carving work for Sir John Griffin Griffin as well as picture frames, 1767-9, and William Adair worked on the same house, 1771-4, 1777-8 and 1791, as well as on Griffin's London house.

It is William Adair's role as framemaker to the King from 1784, following on from Isaac Gosset (qv), which is of chief interest here. He was appointed carver and gilder to His Majesty in 1784 (Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser 30 November 1784). The Lord Chamberlain issued orders to Joshua Reynolds and then to Thomas Lawrence for state portraits of the king and queen to be issued to ambassadors and others, and at the same time would order 'rich carved and gilded frames' from William Adair (e.g. National Archives, LC 5/163, pp.2, 3, 24, 47, dating to 1793-4). It was perhaps in this capacity that Adair came to the attention of Thomas Lawrence who appears to have used his services on occasion in the 1790s (Simon 1996 pp.99, 132). Royal portraits framed by Adair include the Lawrence studio portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte at Knole, probably supplied to Lord Whitworth in 1802; that of George III has his maker's label on the back, 'Adair, Carver and Gilder To Their Majesties'; this is probably one of the frames which were included in Adair's bill, dated 9 March 1803, for £108.8s.6d (see A Guide to Picture Frames at Knole on the National Portrait Gallery website). A pastel portrait by Lawrence with Adair's label from 47 Brewer St is apparently dated as early 1794 (private coll., repr. Gilbert 1996 p.62).

Sources: DEFM (from which the above addresses have been taken, supplemented by reference to London directories); Guildhall Library, Records of Sun Fire Office, vol.472 no.382775; Kerry Bristol, ‘James Stuart and the London building trades', Georgian Group Journal, vol.13, 2003, pp.1-11; J.D. Williams, Audley End: The Restoration of 1762-1779, Essex Record Office Publications, 1966, p.34, and see also Collections Review, English Heritage, vol.4, 2003, pp.32-3; Geoffrey Beard, Craftsmen and Interior Decoration in England 1660-1820, Edinburgh, 1981, p.241; Geoffrey Beard, in Susan Weber Soros (ed.), James ‘Athenian' Stuart 1713-1788, The Rediscovery of Antiquity, 2006, p.551. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

*Vittore, Zanetti & Co 1801, Vittore Zanetti 1804, Vittore Zanetti & Co by 1804-1817, Zanetti & Agnew 1817-1826, Agnew & Zanetti 1828-1837, Thomas Agnew 1837-1850, Thomas Agnew & Sons 1850-1923, Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd 1923 onwards. In Manchester: Repository of Arts, 87 Market St Lane 1804-1811, 94 Market St 1810-1825, 25 Gartside St 1825, 10 Exchange St 1825-1829, 18 Exchange St 1832-1833, 14 Exchange St 1836-1932, also at Salford. In London: 5 Waterloo Place 1860-1877, 39b Old Bond St 1875-1907, 43 Old Bond St W1S 4BA 1908-2008, 8 Grafton Street W1S 4EL from 2008. Elsewhere: Liverpool by 1864-1909, Berlin 1910-1913, Paris 1910-1932 or later. Carvers and gilders, looking glass and picture framemakers, later printsellers, publishers and picture dealers.

Vittore Zanetti (c.1746-1855) came to England from Lake Garda; he set up initially with Vincent Zanetti and John Fiorino, trading in Manchester as Vittore, Zanetti & Company, picture dealers, a partnership which was dissolved in January 1801 (London Gazette 21 March 1801). He then traded as a looking glass maker and printseller from about 1803, and advertised through his trade card as Repository of Arts. Looking-Glass & Mirror Manufacturers, Picture-Frame Makers & Gilders. The early history of the business is treated in the Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, from which the pre-1840 addresses given above are partly derived; details of other members of the Zanetti family trading in Manchester are also given in the Dictionary.

Thomas Agnew (1794-1871) was apprenticed to Zanetti as a carver and gilder in 1810. He joined the business as a partner on the completion of his apprenticeship in 1817, as announced in the Manchester Mercury, September 1817, where it was stated that Zanetti's Repository of Arts had been established for 'the last 20 years' (DEFM). An advert for Zanetti and Agnew described them as ‘Carvers and Gilders, Looking Glass and Picture Frame Manufacturers, Barometer, Thermometer, Hydrometer, and Saccharometer Makers, Printsellers, Publishers, and Dealers in Ancient and Modern Coins, Medals, and all Kinds of Curiosities' (Pigot & Co, Lancashire directory, 1822). At this time the business was located at the Repository of Arts at 94 Market St. A sale of stock was announced in April 1825 shortly before the demolition of their premises in Market St and their move to Exchange St, where the business remained until 1932 (Manchester Guardian 7 May 1825; Agnew 1967 p.7).

When Thomas Agnew joined Vittore Zanetti, it is said that the part of the business to which he paid most attention was that of carving and gilding. In 1825 Zanetti's son Joseph entered the firm. The partnership between Vittore Zanetti and Agnew was dissolved on 31 July 1826 (Manchester Guardian 14 October 1826, The Times 18 October 1826). When Vittore retired to Italy, the business became Agnew & Zanetti, with Joseph as junior partner, a partnership which continued until it was dissolved in 1837 (London Gazette 17 January 1837). Joseph set up on his own at 100 King St as a carver and gilder, framemaker, printseller and publisher, also dealing in mathematical and other instruments, but he was made bankrupt in 1837 (The Times 1 March 1837); he resumed business at 100 King St by 1841 (Pigot's Manchester directory), but died the following year. His father, Vittore Zanetti, lived until 1855 (Liverpool Mercury 26 November 1855). It is worth noting that John Clowes Grundy (qv) was initially an assistant of Messrs Zanetti & Agnew (Manchester Guardian 28 April 1827).

Thomas Agnew married Jane Lockett of Salford in 1823. Agnew became sole proprietor of the business in 1837, becoming one of the country's leading print sellers and publishers. He also began dealing in pictures but as late as 1850 his invoices described the business as 'Carver, Gilder, Looking Glass, and Picture Frame Manufacturer. Printseller', only referring to the sale of 'ancient and modern paintings' in the subsidiary text (repr. Agnew 1967 p.17). The business's extensive activities as art dealers, publishers of prints and printsellers and also as publishers of photographs of the Crimean War by Roger Fenton are not covered here (for further details, see Agnew 1967, including app. 1 and 2). The business had accounts with the artists' suppliers, Roberson, 1820-1907, from both Manchester and London (Woodcock 1997).

Thomas Agnew retired from the partnership in 1861 (London Gazette 13 September 1861) and a sale of surplus stock was held at Christie's. He had two sons, William (1825-1910), who joined the firm in 1840 and retired in 1895, and Thomas (1827-83), who joined in 1842. William was apprenticed to his father to learn the trades of carver, gilder and picture dealer. He and his brother were taken into partnership in 1850, when the firm became Thomas Agnew & Sons. Thomas junior opened the London branch at 5 Waterloo Place in 1860. The framing side of the business continued in Manchester. William Agnew had two sons, and both they and their sons, grandsons and great grandsons joined the business but the subsequent history of the business is not traced here since it is primarily concerned with art dealing and publishing.

Picture framing work: Of Agnew's framing activities relatively little has been published. Jerry Barrett's pair of paintings, Queen Victoria's first visit to her wounded soldiers, 1856, and Florence Nightingale at Scutari, 1857 (National Portrait Gallery) appear to have been framed by Agnew's from their labels, as does John Linnell's Wheat, 1860 (National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, see Payne 2007 p.13). Agnew's ledgers reveal that they were frequently called on to frame paintings entered for the Royal Academy, by artists such as John Everett Millais, Thomas Faed, Briton Rivière and Walter Severn, where a stock frame was required (information from Lynn Roberts). More specifically, Agnew's framed David Wilkie's Distraining for Rent (National Gallery of Scotland), providing a swept compo frame, pattern B207, to S. Cunliffe Lister for £13 on 12 August 1890 (Agnew's London Day Book, no.12, p.161). A bill for a frame ‘specially made to pattern' for Lord Leighton, June 1895, exists in the Walker Art Gallery archives, whilst a few of Alma-Tadema's frames bear Agnew's labels (information from Lynn Roberts). In the 1910s Agnew's was also called upon to frame the Turner watercolours in the Lloyd Collection (British Museum); these had uniform settings, often with a fitted retractable blind, specified by the purchaser. The framing side of the business was discontinued in the twentieth century.

Sources: DEFM; Geoffrey Agnew, Agnew's 1817-1967, 1967 (subsequent volumes cover the years 1967-1981 and 1982-1992); Susan Moore, 'The Restoration and Early History of Agnew's', Country Life, vol.175, 26 January 1984, p.246; Kim Sloan, J.M.W. Turner. Watercolours from the R.W. Lloyd Bequest to the British Museum, exh.cat., 1998, pp.19-21, 60, 88. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

Ernest Alden, 1 William St, Lowndes Square, London SW 1893-1900, 39 King's Rd, Sloane Square SW 1901-1940. Picture mount cutter, later picture framemaker.

Ernest William Alden (b.1866) was recorded in successive censuses, in 1881 as a picture mounter (card maker), age 14, living at 9 Bloomsbury St, with several other members of his family also given as picture mounters, including his father, James; in 1891 as a picture frame mounter with his father and family at 208 Shaftesbury Avenue; and in 1901 as a photographer and picture dealer at 39 King's Road, Chelsea. His listing in trade directories, initially as picture mount cutter, changes to picture framemaker from 1904, soon after setting up in the King's Road. He advertised his large stock of second-hand swept and other frames, claiming to have been established in 1893 (The Year's Art 1913). Two of his younger brothers, Henry Cyril Alden (b.1871) and James Preston Alden (b.1876), were also active as picture framemakers.

*Sefferin Alken, in London by 1744, 3 Dufour's Court, Broad St, Soho by 1756-1782. Carver.

Of Danish origin, Sefferin Alken (1717-82) was the first of this family of artists to settle in England, where he was in business by 1744, providing work for Sir Richard Colt Hoare at Stourhead, Wiltshire. A leading carver in both stone and wood, he is not discussed here beyond his picture frames since he is treated at length in standard biographical works, listed under Sources below the Dictionary of English Furniture Makers and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, to both of which this account is indebted. In 1746 he took an apprentice by the name of Lawrence, probably Richard Lawrence (qv), with whom he appears to have been in partnership in 1763 when the business was referred to as Alken & Lawrence. Alken's will, made 17 April 1779 and proved 8 May 1782, names his wife, Ann, and son, Samuel.

Alken worked for Robert Adam as a specialist carver in the neoclassical style. At Kedleston, Derbyshire, in 1759 or 1760 he produced some of the earliest neoclassical picture frames for Agostino Brunias's Breakfast Room paintings (Victoria and Albert Museum). For the Earl of Coventry at Croome Court, Worcestershire, he produced superb bookcases for the library (Victoria and Albert Museum) as well charging the large sum of £32.10s in 1764 for the frame for Lord Coventry's portrait by Allan Ramsay, with ‘6 Members very Richly Carved' (Simon 1994 pp.450-1); his bill is instructive since it states that he left the frame ‘finish'd in Whiteing', ready for gilding, which was separately charged for, confirming that he was a carver, rather than a carver and gilder.

Subsequently Alken worked for Sir William Chambers at Somerset House and Marlborough House in London, and at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, 1764-71. In 1778 Alken carved the frame for Joshua Reynolds's large picture at Blenheim Palace, The Marlborough Family, a frame of the highest quality, probably made to Chambers' design (Nicholas Penny, 'Reynolds and picture frames', Burlington Magazine, vol.128, 1986, p.821, figs 33-4).

Sources: DEFM; Geoffrey Beard, Craftsmen and Interior Decoration in England 1660-1820, Edinburgh, 1981, pp.241-2; Geoffrey Beard, 'Some English wood-carvers', Burlington Magazine, vol.127, 1985, pp.693-4; Timothy Clayton and Anita McConnell, 'Alken family', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, vol.1, 2004, p.747 (giving Alken's date of birth as 1717); Roscoe 2009 (with an extensive list of works). For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

*Thomas Allwood, Charlotte St, London at uncertain date, Great Russell St by 1767-1798, 35 Great Russell St by 1788-1790 or later. Carver and gilder.

Thomas Allwood was apprenticed to the well-known carver and designer, Thomas Johnson (qv), in Liverpool in 1752. His work is discussed in detail in the Dictionary of English Furniture Makers and what follows is largely supplementary to that account. Allwood apparently initially traded from Charlotte St in Bloomsbury, using a frame label with a rococo surround, 'Allwood/ Carver and Gilder/ at the Golden Head/ Charlotte St/ Near Bloomsbury Square/ London' (found on John Downman's small oil portrait, Susan Rushbrooke, Bonhams 8 December 2004 lot 1). He exhibited sculpture at the Society of Artists, 1770-2, and the portrait painter, Thomas Barrow, used his address when exhibiting at the Society of Artists in 1775.

Allwood took the lease of a property on the south side of Great Russell St for 21 years for a rental of £73.10s in 1798 (Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, DE/Tm/24726), a lease which he proceeded to offer at auction later the same year (Morning Chronicle 22 October 1798), but perhaps without success since he was made bankrupt the following year, as late of Great Russell St (London Gazette 26 March 1799). In the Morning Chronicle advertisement, apart from some of his stock, Allwood offered two leasehold properties, one on the corner of Great Russell St and Charlotte St, Bloomsbury, ‘many years in the possession of Mr. Allwood..., retiring from Business', consisting of a three-storey high dwelling house with a very capacious shop, fronting onto Great Russell St, the other a smaller house adjoining in Charlotte St.

Allwood framed a number of pictures at Corsham Court in 1778 for the MP, Paul Methuen, possibly including that by Gainsborough of his son (Sloman 2002 p.66).

Allwood undertook picture framing for George Romney from the artist's return from Italy in 1775 until 1781 (see A note on George Romney and picture framing on the National Portrait Gallery website). ‘Allwood's Carving Book', recording his work for Romney, is in the Fitzwilliam Museum (Simon 1996 p.97). In this book many frame patterns are specified by the name of the sitter who had previously used the particular pattern, thus 'Mr Bucks patn', 'Mr. Sullivan's patn', 'Lord Gowers patn', 'Capt Beards pattern'. Allwood's accounts includes an entry for 'A 3/4 around Lord Gowers portrait in the Shew Room' (a three-quarter frame was for a picture size 30 x 25 inches), which indicates that at least one of these patterns was on display in Romney's showroom. Some frames are described more specifically: 'A 3/4 fluted frame', 'A 3/4 new patn. with Reeds and Ribns crossing' (the reeds-and-ribbons pattern becoming a favourite), 'A 3/4 frame with Ribn.s in the Corners and Middles', 'A 3/4 with a Vine frett', 'A 3/4 frame new patn. with Oval inside'. From 1782, William Saunders (qv) undertook Romney's framing work.

Allwood also framed works by George Stubbs for Sir John Nelthorpe in 1785 and for the Prince of Wales in 1793 (Simon 1996 p.164); in the latter case Allwood's bill for £110.16s is endorsed by the artist and the set of eight horse paintings are still in their original frames in the Royal Collection (Millar 1969 p.122). Allwood had already undertaken decorative carving work for the Prince at Carlton House in the 1780s (DEFM; Geoffrey de Bellaigue, ‘The Crimson Drawing Room: Carlton House', Furniture History, vol.26, 1990, p.10).

For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

John Anderson, Suffolk St, London 1750s, Little Piazza, Covent Garden 1769, Park St, Covent Garden to 1773. Painter, picture dealer and picture restorer.

See British picture restorers on the National Portrait Gallery website.

*Robert Ansell, Great Portland St, London 1763, Margaret St, Cavendish Square by 1766-1781 or later, Edward St, Cavendish Square by 1777-1782 or later, Vauxhall Walk 1787. Carver and gilder.

Robert Ansell (active 1746-87) was apprenticed in 1746 to the gilder, Thomas Gabb (qv), of the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Many years later, Gabb stated in his will in 1782 that Ansell had his three wheel lathe in his possession on his premises in Edward St. Ansell subscribed to Samuel Boyce's Poems on Several Occasions, 1757 (Biography database) and to James Paine's Noblemen's and Gentleman's Seats, 1767 (DEFM). He took Peter Mathew Jones as apprentice for a premium of £21 in 1758 (Boyd). In 1763, as a witness to the will of Jean Antoine Cuenot (qv), Ansell testified that he was very well acquainted with this French carver. Ansell took out insurance with the Sun Fire Office on his premises in Edward St, including his workshop and wareroom, in 1777 and 1781.

Ansell traded in pictures for many years, from as early as 1769 (Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser 9 February 1769). He was involved in property dealings in the late 1770s, taking the assignment of a lease of a house in Arlington St in 1776, and assigning leases to the stonemason, John Devall, in 1779 (Suffolk Record Office, HA 519/790, 834). He was made bankrupt in November 1780 (DEFM; London Gazette 5 December 1780). It is not clear whether he is the Robert Ansell whose partnership with James Walsh and John Bertels was dissolved in 1777 (Daily Advertiser 8 March 1777). In 1787, Robert Ansell, carver and gilder of Vauxhall Walk, took out a patent for a new method for preparing and mixing colours for painting. There is no evidence of a connection with the auctioneer, James Ansell, former partner of James Christie, who was active in King St in 1785 (The Times 27 January 1785, etc).

Joseph Wright of Derby used Robert Ansell's Margaret St premises as his contact address when exhibiting at the Society of Artists in 1766, suggesting the possibility that the artist may have employed Ansell for framing or as a London agent at this period. The obscure Kent artist, A. Nelson, also used Ansell's address for his Society of Artists exhibits in 1768. Charles Ansell, who exhibited a picture in 1780 from 1 Edward St, Cavendish Square, was perhaps Robert Ansell's son. Robert Ansell was named as taking subscriptions in a proposal to publish a print of George Stubbs's Highflyer in 1780 (The Sporting Calendar 24 May 1780, information from Christopher Lennox-Boyd 2007).

Ansell supplied picture frames for Sir Watkins Williams Wynn in 1769, probably for his house at 20 St James's Square (information from Edgar Harden, 1998). He was asked to provide an estimate for gilding for Lord Milton at Milton House, Park Lane, in 1770, and at Milton Abbas, Dorset, on behalf of William Chambers, in 1771. He also supplied table frames, picture frames, friezes etc for Blenheim Palace, 1773-8, and a 'Carlo maratt frame gilt in burnish gold' for Audley End in 1778. At Blenheim Sir William Chambers recommended that Ansell's pier glass frames and tables could be ‘Gilt of two coloured Gold wh. is very beautiful & gives a fine effect to the ornaments', but Chambers's suggestion was rejected.

Sources: Beard 1981 p.242; DEFM; Guildhall Library, Records of Sun Fire Office, vols 259 no.387108, 293 no.445463; John Harris, Sir William Chambers, 1970, p.226, for Milton House; Beard, 1966, p.92, for Milton Abbas; Hugh Roberts, ‘ "Nicely fitted up": Furniture for the 4th Duke of Marlborough', Furniture History, vol.30, 1994, pp.121-34; J.D. Williams, Audley End: The Restoration of 1762-1779, Essex Record Office Publications, 1966, p.39. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

Robert Archer, see James Wyatt

*John Ashworth 1879, Ashworth, Kirk & Co 1881-1896, Ashworth, Kirk & Co Ltd 1896-1963. At Parkinson St, Nottingham 1879-1891 or later, London Road, Nottingham by 1891-1961 or later. Timber merchants, moulding manufacturers.

The business was first recorded in 1879. Initially the partnership included Steven Richardson Wood but he withdrew at the end of 1882 (London Gazette 13 February 1883). The ongoing partnership was between John Ashworth (b.1853) and George Harry Kirk (1855-1908) as timber merchants and moulding manufacturers. John Ashworth was recorded in the 1881 census as a timber merchant, age 27, living in the Nottingham, with his family including two sons, Frederick and Thomas, and his brother-in-law, Thomas Smith, a wood sawyer. George Kirk, originally a painter and decorator, was recorded in this census as a timber merchant, age 25, living in Nottingham; he was still listed as a partner in 1897.

By 1910, Major John Ashworth of Ruddington Hall was listed as a director of Ashworth, Kirk & Co. Ltd, as by 1915 was Frederick John Ashworth (?1872-1949), presumably his son. Other members of the Ashworth family were involved in the business. Frederick John Ashworth died in 1949 (The Times 27 July 1949). The business was listed as timber importers in 1950. It was liquidated in 1963 (London Gazette 22 January 1963). By 1964 Ashworth Kirk (Timber) Ltd was a subsidiary of the Parker Timber Group Ltd (The Times 27 July 1964).

Ashworth Kirk's handsome trade catalogue, perhaps dating to about 1920, contains 50 large-scale plates with full-scale illustrations and sections, ranging from plates with just two large-scale illustrations to the page to those with more than 60 frame sections. The catalogue features a very wide range of commercial mouldings from the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, divided into categories: Flats, ‘Swep' Frames, Watercolour Mouldings, Oak Veneers for Watts, Slab Oaks, Antiques, Stick Tops and Ovals. Various styles are illustrated, including late 19th-century Watts frames and neoclassical models (Mitchell & Roberts 1996 p.351 reproduces a page), the usual range of Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, Florentine and Lawrence frames, with a selection of early 20th-century revival and other frames described as ‘Antiques', probably in reference to their finish.

For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

S.F. Atkins & Co, see W.M. Power

Found a mistake? Have some extra information? Who should be added to this directory? Please contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk