British picture framemakers, 1630-1950 C part 2
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.
Resources and bibliography
*Henry Critchfield, 35 Clipstone St, Fitzroy Square, London 1855-1887. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker.
George Henry Critchfield (c.1823-1887), trading as Henry Critchfield, succeeded to the business of Robert Thick (qv) in 1854, and worked for both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery for the best part of 20 years. In the 1851 census Henry Critchfield, looking glass maker, age 36, was listed at 20 Great Queen St, St Giles, in 1861 as a gilder and picture framemaker, age 38, living in Willesden, employing three men and a boy, in 1871 as a picture framemaker and gilder (master), age 49, still employing three men and a boy, and in 1881, as George H. Critchfield, carver and gilder, age 58, living in Richmond, Surrey.
Critchfield worked for the National Gallery from 1854 until 1880. Some of his picture frames are mentioned in Nicholas Penny's catalogue (see Sources below), but Critchfield undertook much other work for the Gallery. He also worked extensively for the National Portrait Gallery from 1861. In November 1879, two trustees of the National Gallery, Sir William Gregory and Lord Hardinge, protested that Critchfield's charges were excessive. In February 1880, when called before the Board of Trustees, Critchfield refused to reduce his charges and he was informed that his services would be dispensed with. Four months later it was reported that he had been in the habit of charging on numerous occasions for attendance simultaneously at both the National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery, as was made clear by particulars supplied to Charles Eastlake, Keeper at the National Gallery, by George Scharf, Director at the Portrait Gallery. It was not until November 1884 that Critchfield was gently removed from his position at the Portrait Gallery, following a report by Scharf to his Trustees that Critchfield ‘had become so neglectful & uncertain in his work that he had given some of that employment to Francis Draper who was well recommended'. Critchfield remained in business until 1887, dying in December that year, when he was living in Richmond. His will gives his full name as George Henry Critchfield.
Critchfield made numerous frames for the National Portrait Gallery, mostly in compo, including the following (the date refers to the frame, not the picture): Unknown artist, Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, with a remarkable carved neo-Elizabethan frame, 1865 (repr. Simon 1996 p.112, see also p.179), John Partridge's Fine Art Commissioners, 1872, Sir Francis Grant's Viscount Hardinge, 1876 (repr. Simon 1996 p.116), Pierre Mignard's Duchess of Portsmouth, with a carved frame based on Grinling Gibbons's Hampton Court Withdrawing Room overmantel, 1878, and Daniel Maclise's Edward Matthew Ward, 1880. The more unusual carved frames were surely closely specified by the Gallery's Director, George Scharf.
Critchfield was also employed by the collector, George Salting, 1874-80 (Guildhall Library, MS 19472, Salting's cashbooks).
Sources: Nicholas Penny, The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, vol.1, Paintings from Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona, National Gallery, 2004, and see also Framing Italian Renaissance Paintings at the National Gallery on theNational Portrait Gallery website For Critchfield's attendance at both the National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery, see National Gallery Archives, Trustees Minutes 1877-86, pp.137, 141, 147 and National Portrait Gallery Records, NPG History, Various Notes late 19th century, shelf 22.C.5. For his dismissal by the Portrait Gallery, see National Portrait Gallery Records, Trustees Minutes, vol.4, p.89, 19 November 1884. His will at Somerset House, kindly examined by Michèle Riley, 1995, was proved 25 January 1888, personal estate £1979.8s.9d, with executors his nephew, James George Vokes the younger and Samuel Green, framemaker, of Compton St, Soho. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
*Joseph Crouzet, 107 Great Titchfield St, Fitzroy Square, London 1817-1819, 11 Great Titchfield St 1820-1838. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker.
Joseph Crouzet was working in Great Titchfield St by 1817, moving by 1820 to no.11, the address of Benjamin Charpentier (qv), another framemaker of apparent French origin. As carver, gilder and picture framemaker, Crouzet took out insurance with the Sun Fire Office from this address on four occasions between 1821 and 1830. Crouzet suffered two fires within five years: in 1825 his premises were consumed by fire, with the loss of a ‘great number of the beautiful carvings and works of art, intended for Belvoir Castle', and in 1830 a second fire was successfully extinguished (The Times 22 June 1825, 19 May 1830).
In 1825, Crouzet 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). He is conceivably Louis Joseph Crouzet, who married Marie Jeanne Denise, and whose daughter was christened in 1825 at Marylebone. The business was listed as John Crouzet in Pigot's directory in 1822, Crouzet & Co in Kent's directory, 1826-8, and as J.L. Crouzet in Robson's directory in 1828. By March 1836, Crouzet's business was reported as having been taken over by one Nicolai or Nocalai, according to a letter to William Etty from his patron, T. Wright of Upton Hall. This is presumably a reference to Eugene Nicholas (qv), who was listed at this address in 1841.
Under the supervision of William Seguier, Crouzet carried out extensive work for George IV on broadening and enriching frames for the new gallery at Windsor Castle, having supplied an estimate in December 1827. This came to £719.13s for work on the frames of more than 70 Italian paintings, including 22 by Canaletto, which he proposed to widen to 4½ inches for £115, ‘by the addition of a new hollow moulding frame, mitred round the old frames with 2 new compositions enrichments and 4 new composition corners'. Crouzet won this contract in competition with ‘Mr Henderson', probably James Henderson (qv), and Peter Ferraro (qv) by providing a ‘considerably lower' estimate; staged payment orders of £800 in his favour were issued on 14 April and 9 December 1829 (National Archives, LC 1/1, letters 33, 63, 81).
In December 1826 John Constable compared the work of the three framemakers whom he was using at this period. ‘Cruzac', he wrote in his journal, ‘works much cheaper than Coward - but not so fine & finished as Smith.' (Beckett 1964 p.417). ‘Cruzac' appears to be a misreading for Crouzet, Coward is John Coward (qv), while Smith is presumably John Smith (qv). Crouzet worked for other artists. For Sir David Wilkie, Constable's friend, he framed Sancho Panza in the Days of his Youth, 1835 (Christie's 20 February 2003 lot 303), which is stencilled on the reverse of the frame: ‘From J. Crouzet, No. 11. Gt. Titchfield St.', and he presumably also provided the identical frame on The First Ear Ring, exh.1835 (Tate). In correspondence with Sir William Knighton in 1835 or later, Wilkie referred to Crouzet as his framemaker (information from Hamish Miles). For James Northcote, he framed Miss Roberts, 1819, if references to ‘Cruza' can be taken to indicate Joseph Crouzet. Another friend of Constable's, John Jackson, wrote to the publisher, John Murray, in 1825, mentioning Crouzet as the maker of the frame for his Sir John Barrow (John Murray collection).
Sources: DEFM; Guildhall Library, Records of Sun Fire Office, vols 488, 498, 502, 525; Geoffrey de Bellaigue and Pat Kirkham, ‘George IV and the Furnishing of Windsor Castle', Furniture History, vol.8, 1972 pp.3, 17; Jacob Simon, 'The Account Book of James Northcote', Walpole Society, vol.58, 1996, pp.25, 104; William Etty letters, York library, no.104, see also no.207. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
*Jean Antoine Cuenot, Warwick St, Golden Square, London 1744-1762, Silver St 1747. Carver.
Jean or John Antoine Cuenot (d.1762) came from a family of carvers and craftsmen residing in Franche-Comté in eastern France. His work in England has been studied by Desmond Fitzgerald and by Tessa Murdoch, to whom this account is indebted. Cuenot was working in London from an address in Warwick St, Golden Square, from 1744 until his death in 1762. He took apprentices, Henry Martha Pujolas for a premium of £12.12s in 1747 and ‘Marma. Rynoldson' for £35 in 1756 (Boyd) and also John Scott by 1760. He used Robert Tull (qv) as a subcontractor in the 1750s (Simon 1996 p.143). In his will, made 10 August 1762 and proved 22 January 1763, Cuenot bequeathed £60 to his friend, the gilder, Thomas Gabb (qv).This unwitnessed will, written in French, was subject to testimony by three carvers, including Robert Ansell (qv)and Joseph Duffour (qv), who both testified that they were very well acquainted with Cuenot and specifically recognised his handwriting in the will.
Cuenot was paid for work for the Duke of Northumberland in 1752 and the Duke Montagu in 1759. His most significant patron was the Duke of Norfolk who commissioned extensive work for Norfolk House in the 1750s, most notably the Music Room, now installed in the Victoria and Albert Museum. As well as decorative carving and furniture, Cuenot also produced looking glass and picture frames. Many of these were removed by a subsequent Duke of Norfolk to Arundel Castle, where various portraits have frames that have been attributed to Cuenot. He charged £18.3s.2d for ‘carving two picture frames, with heads, shells, festoons &c', and a further £8.12s for gilding. In all, he was paid the huge sum of £2643 for his work at Norfolk House between 1753 and 1756.
Sources: Desmond Fitzgerald, The Norfolk House Music Room, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, especially p.26 (including John Scott, apprentice); Tessa Murdoch, ‘A French Carver at Norfolk House: The Mysterious Mr Cuenot', Apollo, vol.163, June 2006, pp.36, 54-63; Simon 1996 pp.143, 159; DEFM; Roscoe 2009. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
Found a mistake? Have some extra information? Who should be added to this directory? Please contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk
