British picture framemakers, 1630-1950 - H
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
**William Hallett, Great Newport St, Long Acre, London 1732-1752, St Martin's Lane 1752-1755. Cabinet maker.
William Hallett (c.1707-1781) was apparently born in Somerset, the son of William Hallett of Crewkerne. His life and work have been explored by Geoffrey Beard, to whom this account is indebted. Hallett was a significant figure in the cabinet-making world, working from Great Newport St, 1732-52 (Geoffrey Beard, ‘William Vile again', Furniture History, vol.11, 1975, p.114). He occasionally acted as an auctioneer, including selling the Earl of Cholmondeley's furniture from his Richmond house in 1748 and William Leybourne's house and furniture in 1751 (London Evening Post 29 March 1748, General Advertiser 3 April 1751). He gained sufficient funds to make purchases at the demolition sale of the Duke of Chandos's great mansion of Canons at Edgware in 1747, to purchase much of the surrounding estate in 1747 or 1748, reportedly for £7,700 (Remembrancer 23 July 1748), and then to construct himself a new house on the site. He retired from business in the early 1750s.
Hallett's portrait with his family, holding a plan of his new house, was painted by Francis Hayman in about 1756 (private coll., repr. Brian Allen, Francis Hayman, 1987, p.104). His son, William Hallett the younger (1730-67), continued in business for a time but died before him. His grandson commissioned Thomas Gainsborough's double portrait, The Morning Walk, 1785 (National Gallery). He himself died on 17 December 1781; in his lengthy will, made and proved 8 January 1782, William Hallett of Canons left his house to his grandson. He was described by his grandson as ‘an upholsterer at the corner of Long Acre and St Martin's Lane... in business about 20 years and as he assured me, was never in bed more than four hours in any night during that time' (Judy Egerton, British School, National Gallery, 1998, p.126, n.11).
Hallett was only an occasional picture framemaker, as an examination of the Dictionary of English Furniture Makers make clear. For the Duchess of Montrose in 1742 as part of a larger order he supplied 13 black frames with gilt edges for pictures for £2.9s.6d (National Archives of Scotland, GD220/6/899/63). For Sir William Beauchamp Proctor in 1748 he provided carved and gilt picture frames for £9.10s, again as part of a larger order. It is however for his work at the Foundling Hospital in London in 1746 and 1747 that he is included here.
William Hallett supplied much of the carved work in the Court Room at the Foundling Hospital. His charges included £11.4s on 15 November 1746 for '8 Carved Oval Frames for Pictures'. These very fine oak-leaf-and-acorn frames, matching the door friezes but smaller in scale and gilt rather than painted, were used to house the small landscapes which were presented to the hospital over the next few years, including Thomas Gainsborough's The Charterhouse (1748).
William Hallett made other charges for work at the Hospital which are not so easily linked to surviving picture frames. On 15 November 1746, in the sequence of payments for work for the Court Room, he charged £20 for '4 Carved Whole Length Frames for Pictures & Altering D[itt]o'. Subsequently, on 16 December 1746, he supplied a 'Carved Frame to go over a Chimney' at £3.15s, conceivably for Joseph Highmore's Thomas Emerson in the Picture Gallery. Two weeks later on 31 December he charged the same sum 'For Altering a Frame & Carving the Moldings & an Ornament to the Bottom', with a further unaccounted charge of £5 on 31 March 1747, 'For 1 Picture Frame new Gilt'. For a fuller analysis, see Picture frames at the Foundling Museum on the National Portrait Gallery website.
Sources: Geoffrey Beard, ‘The Quest for William Hallett', Furniture History, vol.21, 1985, pp.220-8.
Richard Harding, see Isaac Dallain
*John Harris 1787-1814, Harris & Pearse 1814-1828, Samuel Pearse 1826-1834, Pearse & Biggs 1834-1835, William Biggs 1835-1852, Biggs & Sons 1853-1856, Biggs & Son 1857-1868, W.H. Biggs & Co 1869-1884, Walter Henry Biggs & Co 1885 (as fine art dealers). At 38 Dean St, London 1787-1790, 28 Gerrard St 1794-1797, 1800-1808, 26 Gerrard St 1799, 30 Conduit St 1805-1809, 31 Conduit St (‘one door from Bond Street') 1810-1878, 7 Maddox St 1879-1884, 65 Mortimer St, Cavendish Square 1885. Carvers, gilders and framemakers, picture restorers, print publishers, later picture dealers.
This long-standing business was founded by John Harris in the late 1780s. It was active in Conduit St for much of the 19th century in a changing series of partnerships, as framemakers, picture restorers and latterly picture dealers.
John Harris, Harris & Pearse, to 1828: John Harris (d.1826) traded independently until he took Samuel Pearse into partnership in the about 1814. It is likely that John Harris is the carver and gilder of this name recorded in Dean St and Gerrard St, whom the artist George Morland sometimes visited, using his address at 28 Gerrard St for his Royal Academy exhibits in 1797. Harris published prints by Thomas Rowlandson from 38 Dean St, 1787-90, etchings of Morland's work, 1792-6 (advertised in The World 17 January 1794, 21 May 1794), and seemingly other engravings, including a satirical print, A charge at Ascot, in 1800 (BM satires no.9575), and William Ward's mezzotint of Robert Muller's George Morland in 1805. His advertisement from 38 Dean St in 1789 refers to prints etched by Rowlandson after Morland (World 7 August 1789), which could also be purchased from Mr Harris, printseller in Sweetings Alley, suggesting a relationship between him and his namesake, the print publisher at 3 Sweetings Alley, Cornhill. Subsequently, Harris & Pearse published J.R. Smith's Stephen Hemsted in June 1814 (J.C. Smith pp.1469, 1474).
John Harris used Robert Brown for picture restoration and some other services, c.1797-1810, and evidently knew Joseph Marchi, Joshua Reynolds's assistant, since he testified in 1808 as to the handwriting of Marchi's unwitnessed will. For both Brown and Marchi, see British picture restorers on the National Portrait Gallery website.
John Harris used his frame label to advertise: ‘Pier Glasses, Picture Frames & Mirrors, Girandoles, &c. Drawings Mounted, Pictures Clean'd, Lined & Repaired' (example on Andrew Robertson's miniature, Joseph Gwilt, 1810, National Portrait Gallery). Customers of Harris & Pearse included the Hazlerigg family of Noseley, Leicestershire, who were billed for picture frames in June 1819 (Leicester and Rutland Record Office, DE 3168/256; Sotheby's Nosely Hall sale, 28 September 1998 lot 209, for a picture by James Northcote), and Lord Crewe of Crewe Hall, who was charged for framing work in 1828 (DEFM).
In 1825, the partnership of Harris & Pearse was represented at 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, made 8 April and proved 14 August 1826, John Harris described Samuel Pearse as his business partner, making him one of his executors and leaving him the leases of his house in Conduit St and another in Bruton St where the partnership also carried on business; he also made a bequest to his godson, John Pearse, Samuel's son.
Samuel Pearse, Pearce & Biggs, 1826-35: Samuel Pearse (c.1788-1834) may perhaps be the 'Mr Pearse' referred to in Turner's correspondence in 1827 (John Gage (ed.), Collected Correspondence of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 1980, p.108). He offered to clean, line and repair pictures (DEFM). He invoiced the future Lord Hampton, of Westwood, Worcestershire for framing work in 1832 (DEFM). He died in 1834, when he was 42 (The Times 12 July 1834), referring in his lengthy will to his partnership with William Biggs.
As Harris & Pearse, the business invoiced Dulwich College for repairing picture frames in 1821, as Pearse & Biggs for cleaning and repairing frames in 1834, and as 'Mr Biggs' for cleaning, gilding and repairing frames, and relining and cleaning pictures in the Dulwich Gallery, 1835-53 (information from John Ingamells, 2005).
The business framed Thomas Phillips's 6th Earl of Plymouth, 1834 (Knole House, Kent), which is labelled, 'Pearse & Biggs, Late Harris & Pearse, Carvers and Gilders', and his Lord Byron in Albanian dress, 1840 (John Murray collection), labelled, 'William Biggs, late Pearse & Biggs, Carver and Gilder. No 31 Conduit Street, One door from Bond Street'.
William Biggs, Biggs & Sons, Biggs & Son, W.H. Biggs & Co, from 1835: William Biggs (c.1797-1851) and his wife, Charlotte Elizabeth, had four sons christened at St Pancras Old Church between 1825 and 1833, including William Joseph in 1825, Alfred in 1827 and Henry in 1828, and two further sons, George c.1834, and Walter c.1836. William Biggs was listed in the 1841 census as a carver and gilder, and again in 1851 when his age was given as 54. He died later that year, leaving instructions in his lengthy will for his business to be carried on under certain conditions, and making bequests including to William Joseph Biggs.
The partnership between his widow, Charlotte Elizabeth, and their sons, William Joseph and Alfred, trading as Biggs & Sons, carver and gilder, printseller, dealer in pictures and drawings was dissolved on 1 January 1857, in so far as regards William Joseph (London Gazette 23 January 1857). William Joseph appeared before a court for insolvent debtors later that year (London Gazette 4 December 1857). In the 1881 census, William J. Biggs, age 53, was listed as an auctioneer.
Alfred Biggs (c.1827-1880?) was recorded at 31 Conduit St in the 1861 census as a carver and gilder, employing six men and one boy; his household included his mother, Charlotte, and his two brothers George and Walter, both listed as commercial travellers. Alfred and his mother, carvers and gilders of 31 Conduit St, were subject to debt proceedings in 1868 (London Gazette 4 August 1868). In the 1871 census, both Alfred and Walter Biggs were listed in the same household as carvers and gilders.
Walter Henry Biggs (c.1836-1900?) advertised as W.H. Biggs, picture framemaker, established in 1795 (The Artists' Directory, 1874, p.10) and as W.H. Biggs & Co, picture restorers, picture framemakers, carvers, gilders and decorators (no author, but Charles H. Savory, The Illustrated Carver and Gilder's Guide..., 1st ed, ?1874). W.H. Biggs & Co had an account with the artists' suppliers, Roberson, 1878-82, from 7 Maddox St (Woodcock 1997). In the 1881 census, Walter H. Biggs, was listed as a fine art dealer, age 45. Walter Henry Biggs, trading as W.H. Biggs & Co, picture dealer, picture framemaker and carver and dealer, of 7 Maddox St, entered into liquidation arrangements in 1883 (London Gazette 9 January 1883). In the 1891 census he was listed as an auctioneer and valuer.
Reginald Easton's watercolour, William IV, c.1838? (National Portrait Gallery) has an elaborate frame, with the label of William Biggs.
Sources: George C. Williamson, George Morland: his life and works, 1904, pp.78, 100. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
James Harnell, see A.R. Skillen
William Haselden, see Bielefeld & Haselden
Alexander Hasse, 31 Commercial St, Leeds from 1856. Carver and gilder, printseller and picture framemaker, fine art gallery. A candidate for the next edition of this Directory, to include additional 19th and 20th-century framemakers. Contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.
Charles Hauff 1899-1914, Charles Hauff Ltd 1915-1938. At 27 Coptic St, New Oxford St, London WC 1899-1903, 69 Great Russell St, WC 1903-1911, 17 Gilbert St W 1913-1926, 62 Great Russell St 1915-1926, 42 Museum St WC1 1927-1938. Publishers' agent and wholesale frame importer, also fine art dealers and publishers.
Charles Hauff, trading as Charles Hauff & Co, dealer in prints and photographs at 93 London Wall, entered into proceedings for liquidation in 1873 (London Gazette 24 January 1873). Charles Hauff (c.1835-1905) was listed in the 1901 census as a fine art dealer, age 66, born Germany, living in Camberwell, with several children including a son, Charles, described as a clerk. He is presumably the Carl Heinrich G. Hauff who died in Camberwell age 70 in 1905. The business may have passed to Charles Hauff's son, Charles Henry Hauff (b.1872). It was wound up voluntarily in 1938 (London Gazette 5 August 1938).
It was claimed that Charles Hauff was the first to introduce Florentine frames into England (Fine Art Trade Journal, vol.1, 1905, pp.78ff, information from Jeremy Adamson, 1998). The business described itself in The Year's Art as ‘Wholesale Representative for Great Britain to Messrs Braun, Clément & Cie., Dornach, Alsace, Paris, &c.,' and advertised imported Florentine frames, ‘Hand-carved and gilt', in ‘any design and size' (1900), subsequently offering ‘New Art Frames' (1903) and a pierced Florentine leaf frame (1905). Florentine styles were replaced by ‘American frames' in his advertising by 1908, and frames were no longer featured from 1909.
Nick Hawker (d.2006), see Robert Sielle
Edward Hawkins, see Edward Hill & Co
*Nicholson & Hay 1823-1828, D.R. Hay 1829-1847, D.R. Hay & Co 1848-1867. At 8 South St David St, Edinburgh 1823-1826, 51 George St 1827-1828, 37 George St 1829-1830, 89 George St 1831-1837, 90 George St 1837-1867. Decorative painter, picture restorer, picture framemaker and writer on art and design.
The leading decorative painter in Scotland, David Ramsay Hay (1798-1866) was working for Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford as early as 1820. He was recorded in partnership with George Nicholson at 8 South St David St by 1823 but the two men went their own ways in 1828, with his former partner trading independently as George Nicholson & Co from 51 George St. In 1838 a directory listing for Hay described him as ‘house painter and interior decorator to the Queen' and in the early 1840s he was appointed ‘decorative painter to Her Majesty, Edinburgh'. In the 1851 census he was recorded as a master house painter, age 54, and in 1861 as a painter, age 63, employing 25 men and boys. He was followed in business by Graham & Reith, who were listed in 1867 as successors to D.R. Hay & Co.
In 1824, Nicholson & Hay, as ‘Plain & Ornamental House Painters', from 9 South St David St, also offered ‘Drawing Materials and Ladies Fancy Works of every description' and ‘Paintings, Prints &c Framed & Varnished' (see billhead of account to Sir Walter Scott for decorating the dining room at Abbotsford, copy in Scottish National Portrait Gallery, AF Frames files). In 1826, Nicholson & Hay submitted an account to Lady Frances Erskine for cleaning, varnishing and repairing various paintings including three full-lengths, nine half-lengths, 30 heads and one drawing and six prints for £12.7s (National Archives of Scotland, GD124/20/30/1-2, Erskine Family papers, Earls of Mar and Kellie).
Hay's firm developed a picture framing department and in 1841 he applied to the Royal Scottish Academy, which he understood was about to appoint a framemaker, stating that ‘for the last 10 years', he had practised ‘that art without sparing expense or trouble in my endeavours to improve it'. Subsequently, Hay advertised that he had engaged an experienced superintendent in the carving and gilding department and was now able to offer at a considerably reduced price picture frames without lowering their quality (The Scotsman 28 November 1846). Hay produced an estimate in January 1841 for the Royal Scottish Academy for producing labels at £7.10s in lacquer or Japan, £10.15s in gold powder or bronze and £14 in real gold leaf, reflecting the differing costs of materials (Simon 1996 p.46, mistakenly referring to frames rather than labels).
Hay acted as Edinburgh agent and picture framemaker for David Roberts, who had been a fellow apprentice. In a similar fashion he handled and framed pictures which Robert Scott Lauder sent from Rome to be exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy. These included his portrait of David Roberts in eastern dress, 1840 (Scottish National Portrait Gallery); Hay wrote about this picture in November 1840, ‘I have not yet got it framed, being fastidious about the pattern, and, therefore, intend making an intirely new one for it' (National Library of Scotland, acc.10970, information from Iain Brown, 8 January 1996).
Sources: R.C. Denis, ‘Hay, David Ramsay (1798-1866)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004; Lindsay Errington, Master Class: Robert Scott Lauder and his pupils, exh.cat., National Galleries of Scotland, 1983, p.18. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
John Hay from 1811, Hay & Lyall 1870s to 1910s, Aberdeen. Picture framemakers. A candidate for the next edition of this Directory, to include additional 19th and 20th-century framemakers. Contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.
*Henry Haynes, 21 Seymour Place, Camden Town, London 1826-1830, 52 George St, Euston Square 1831-1852 (also listed as Great George St 1836, 1839), 16 Great Windmill St 1839-1856. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker.
Henry Haynes (c.1798-1855?) was listed in the 1851 census at 52 George St as a carver and gilder, age 53, employing six men, together with his 20-year-old son, John, a carver, and other members of his family. Henry Haynes is possibly the man of this name who died in the St Pancras registration district in 1855. His premises in Great Windmill St were part of a property also housing the Union Plate Glass Establishment (The Times 6 March 1843).
Haynes was employed by Lord Northwick to frame pictures for his picture gallery at Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham, apparently in the 1840s, as organised by Henry George Eckford (see British picture restorers on the National Portrait Gallery website). The artist, William Powell Frith, was using Haynes as his framemaker in 1848 and 1849, as is evident from his correspondence with his patron Thomas Miller (Doran 2006 p.157, see also Royal Academy Archive, Thomas Miller papers, 236/40/3).
Sources: DEFM (as at 16 Great Windmill St as early as 1839); Oliver Bradbury and Nicholas Penny, 'The picture collecting of Lord Northwick: Part II', Burlington Magazine, vol.144, 2002, p.607. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
William Hebden, 51 Sheen Lane, East Sheen, London 1903-1908, Hebden & Sons, 4 West Hill, Wandsworth 1908-1910. Carvers and gilders, picture framemakers and artists' colourmen.
Walter William Hebden (1870-1936) was born in Brighton and married three times. He was described as a gilder on his marriage certificate in 1890 and again in 1899, and as a picture framemaker in 1908. He had moved to London by the time of his second marriage in 1899, and he was living at 15 Sheen Road, Richmond as a coffee-house keeper at the time of the 1901 census. He traded as a carver and gilder from 1903, initially as William Hebden, and then as Hebden & Sons, presumably with his son, like him called Walter William Hebden (b.1892). He emigrated with his family to Melbourne in Australia in 1910.
Hebden's business as a picture framemaker was short-lived. A label is known from 51 Sheen Lane describing William Hebden as Practical Carver and Gilder, Picture Frame Maker, Mount Cutter & Artist's Colourman. As Hebden & Sons, the business was listed at 4 West Hill, Wandsworth (mistakenly given as Heldon & Sons in 1908). These premises were previously and subsequently occupied by another framemaker, Christian Lamm (qv). Hebden's canvas mark on a work dating to 1908 has been recorded (information from Cathy Proudlove).
Sources: Information on Walter William Hebden, his background and family kindly supplied by Stuart Hebden, 11 June 2007, with thanks also to John Hebden.
*Alfred Hecht, 326 King's Road, Chelsea, London SW3 1947-1974. Picture framemaker.
Alfred Hecht (1907-91) came to England in the mid-1920s and at first tried metal broking and the textiles business (Simon 1996 pp.135, 186). Following the Second World War, he traded as an art dealer (he was listed as such in 1947), before setting up his well-known framing business in or before 1950. He undertook framing work for artists such Ceri Richards, Graham Sutherland and Francis Bacon, as well as for the dealer, Frank Lloyd Fisher at the Marlborough Gallery, according to Jim Bradford, a former employee (verbal communication, 29 September 1994). Bradford found Hecht a most agreeable employer, whose framing work was based on 'self-appointed good taste', rather than on set ideas on how to go about framing. The paper conservator, Jane McAusland, has left an account of her first studio, which Hecht let her have for a year, c.1970, in two rooms on his premises, ‘above a gilder, who spent his time diligently day after day gilding large frames for Francis Bacon'.
While Hecht was no longer listed in trade directories after 1974, he continued to undertake some framing work, including for the 1977 Graham Sutherland exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. He was Sutherland's framemaker from 1953 or before and was in the course of sitting to the artist for his portrait at the time of Sutherland's death in 1980 (Simon 1996 p.186).
Hecht enjoyed entertaining, as the diaries of the Labour politician, Jennie Lee, tell: 'Alfred Hecht, who liked describing himself as a picture frame-maker, was indeed a picture frame-maker, but in addition he had the gift of recognising genius long before the general public came to recognise it. In his home we spent happy carefree evenings with artist friends, some of whose early promise came to nothing, while others, among them Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Francis Bacon, were to reach the highest pinnacles of their profession.' Hecht was described by Roy Strong as 'a very superior framer who lives over his shop in the Kings Road'.
Hecht knew John and Myfanwy Piper well and they were the residual legatees of his estate; his letters to the Pipers, 1955-69, are in the Tate Archive, together with estate correspondence, 1991-2, and photocopies of his will and codicil, inventories and valuations.
‘When I die,' Hecht used to say, 'let my epitaph be: "Alfred Hecht, the man who invented the coloured mount".' (Derek Granger, obituary for Alfred Hecht, The Independent 12 January 1991).
Sources: Jennie Lee, My Life with Nye, Penguin books, 1981, pp.188, 270, 294; Roy Strong, The Roy Strong Diaries 1967-1987, 1997, p.122; Jane McAusland, ‘Some memoirs of a conservator in private practice', Paper Conservator, vol.25, 2001, p.87. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
James Henderson, see Fielder & Henderson
N.F. Henley, 7 Oaklands Grove, Shepherds Bush, London 1879-1881 or later, 17 Brackenbury Road, Hammersmith by 1891-1904 or later. Mounter of prints and drawings, occasional paper restorer and framemaker.
See British picture restorers on the National Portrait Gallery website.
*George Hennekin, 64 Berwick St, London 1781, 9 Marylebone St, Golden Square 1784, 12 Marylebone St 1785, Berwick St 1797, 7 Charles St, Berners St 1800-1809. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker, lay figure maker.
George Michael Hennekin (1746-1812) was christened on 8 June 1746 at St James Westminster, the son of Simon Hennekin (qv). He is possibly George Henniken, cabinet maker, who insured his house at Wethey Court, White Cross St, London, with the Sun Fire Office in 1775 (DEFM). He advertised as successor to his late father in 1781 (Public Advertiser 24 November 1781). In his will, made 5 February 1797 and proved 29 August 1812, George Hennekin of Berwick St, St James's, made bequests to his wife, Mary, and his sister, Ann.
Like his father, George Hennekin specialised in laymen for artists. In 1781 he advertised from 64 Berwick St as a lay figuremaker and carver and gilder in general, offering artists ‘an exceedingly good Lay Figure, in true Proportions, five Feet six inches high, will suit for either Man or Woman', also cautioning the public against ‘some unproportionable LAME Figure-makers in London', and offering picture frames in all sizes in the modern taste as usual (Public Advertiser 24 November 1781). George Hennekin's neoclassical trade card from 9 Marylebone St describes him as 'Carver and Gilder in General... Pictures & Prints Fram'd & Glaz'd. NB Laymen for Artists' (Johnson coll. Trade Cards 24 (49); Heal coll. 32.30).
For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
*Simon Hennekin, Wardour St, London 1749, Broad St, Soho 1762, Edward St (opposite Broad St), Soho 1763-1776. Carver and gilder, framemaker, lay figure maker.
Simon Hennekin, sometimes spelt Henekin, married Elizabeth Cook at St Marylebone in 1743 and had four children christened at St Anne Soho or St James Westminster, 1744-53, including the carver and gilder, George Michael Hennekin (qv). He was dead by 1781, when his son advertised as his successor (Public Advertiser 24 November 1781).
Simon Hennekin was listed in 1763 in Mortimer's Universal Director as being ‘eminent for making laymen for Painters, &c'; he also advertised from Edward St, ‘Frames of all sorts', as well as carving and gilding for buildings, ships, signs and furniture (trade label, Heal coll. 32.31, repr. Ayers 1985 p.142). He sent his advertisement as carver and gilder, Broad St, Soho, to Sir John Cust of Belton Hall, seeking his custom in February 1762 (Lincolnshire Archives, BNLW 2/1/4/1).
A layman by Simon Hennekin, contained in a box with his label, belonged to the wardrobe designer, Ann Whytell in 1769, and is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (repr. American Art Journal, vol.27, 1995, p.23). In the same year, 1769, he produced a ‘most curious clay horse for the Academie Royal of Paris' (Gazeteer and New Daily Advertiser 20 February 1769).
Sources: DEFM. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
Walter Ernest Hewitt, see Gething & Gainsboro
Edward Hill & Co 1869, Hill, Honer and Hawkins 1870-1871, Edward Hill 1872-1910. At 151 Essex Road, Islington, London 1869-1910. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker and art dealer.
From successive censuses from 1861 to 1901, we learn that Edward Hill, born in Bruton, Somerset in 1839 or 1840, came to Islington by 1861, when he was recorded as a gilder and cabinet maker, age 21, at 12 Edward Cottages, subsequently being described as a carver and gilder, or as a gilder, at 151 Essex Road. The partnership between Edward Hill, John Honer and Edward Hawkins as carvers and gilders at 151 Essex Road was dissolved in October 1871 (London Gazette 31 October 1871). In 1897 Hill advertised as artistic picture framemaker, established 29 years, referring to his stock of second-hand frames (The Year's Art 1897, and subsequently). Edward Hill was made bankrupt in 1910 (London Gazette 10 June 1910).
John Marshman Hill by 1833-1846 or later, Hill & Son by 1848-1864, Edward Lyons Hill by 1870-1896. At 9 Kingsmead, Bath by 1833-1837 or later, 4 Wood St, Queen Square, Bath by 1842-1896, also 11 John St by 1882-1884 or later. Carvers and gilders, from c.1850 picture restorers and picture dealers.
See British picture restorers on the National Portrait Gallery website; see also John Deare in this directory.
Hinchliff & Co, see Bielefeld & Haselden
*Joseph Hogarth 1835-1868, Joseph Hogarth & Sons 1869-1890. At 60 Great Portland St, London 1835-1845, 5 Haymarket 1845-1866, 96 Mount St 1866-1886, 473 Oxford St 1887-1890. Printsellers, picture framemakers and mounters of drawings, later also picture restorers.
Joseph Hogarth (1801-1879?) appears to be the individual christened in 1801 at St Pancras Old Church, the son of Joseph and Ann Hogarth, and who died age 77 in 1879 in the Uxbridge registration district. Joseph Hogarth is perhaps be identified with J.B. Hogarth, print colourer and mounter, listed at 30 Denton St, Somers Town in 1826 and 11 Somers Town Terrace in 1828, and as Joseph Hogarth, stationer, at 11 Somers Town Terrace and 19 Mortimer St, Cavendish Square in 1832, also recorded at New Road, opposite St Pancras Church, in 1832 (British Museum collections database). He was listed in 1839 as a mounter and inlayer of prints and drawings, in the 1841 census as a print mounter, age 39, and in the 1861 census as a printseller, age 59, employing 12 men and boys, born St Pancras, with two daughters and one son listed as assistants in the business. The partnership between Joseph Hogarth and Elhanan Bicknell as printsellers and publishers at 5 Haymarket was dissolved in August 1854 (London Gazette 12 September 1854).
There is a priced manuscript catalogue of what appears to be Messrs Hogarth's stock of drawings and pictures, compiled in about 1840, in the V&A National Art Library. Joseph Hogarth's billhead in 1848 described him as 'Printseller and Publisher', specifying other services including picture frame making (Johnson coll.). A sale of his surplus stock of prints was advertised by Christie's in 1866 when the business moved to Mount St (The Times 12 March 1866). Initially listed as printseller, by 1864 he was described as a printseller and picture framemaker and in 1867 as printseller, publisher and picture framemaker by special appointment to the Prince of Wales, with the additional description for the business from 1870, by now Joseph Hogarth & Sons, as picture restorers and dealers in works of art. Their trade card, perhaps from the 1870s, promoted their services as picture restorers (Banks coll., 96.6).
Joseph Hogarth framed a few of George Richmond's drawings, including John Bird Sumner, c.1849, and Henry Parry Liddon, 1866 (both National Portrait Gallery; see Simon 1996 p.175); he also published prints after some of Richmond's portraits, 1846-9, including that of Sumner.
Hogarth is reported to have mounted, framed, or in some cases cleaned and restored, various works by John Constable for his son, Charles Golding Constable in 1865 (Ian Fleming-Williams and Leslie Parris, The Discovery of Constable, 1984, p.71).
It is sometimes said that the Hogarth frame, a black-and-gilt frame used for engravings, takes its name from Joseph Hogarth the framemaker, rather than William Hogarth the artist, but while Joseph Hogarth was among the businesses making such frames, there appears to be no early evidence identifying the origins of this term (see Susan Lambert, The Image Multiplied, 1987, p.186, and Ronald Paulson, Hogarth's Graphic Works, 3rd ed., 1989, p.19, both of whom link the term to Joseph Hogarth).
The second generation: George Bicknell Hogarth (1844-1890), presumably Joseph Hogarth's son, was listed in the 1871 census at 96 Mount St as a dealer in works of art, age 27. George Bicknell Hogarth and Andrew David Hogarth, trading as J. Hogarth & Sons, picture dealers, 473 Oxford St, formerly 96 Mount St, were made bankrupt in 1890 (London Gazette 5 May 1893), and George Bicknell Hogarth died in the full registration district shortly thereafter. Subsequently, Andrew David Hogarth (1847-1906) traded from 196 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush.
For the National Portrait Gallery, the business mounted a collection of portrait drawings by Sir Francis Chantrey in the late 1880s. At this date the business's headed paper offered, among other services, ‘Specially prepared hand made mounts, free from all chemical & other impurities, for the preservation of water colour drawings' (National Portrait Gallery records, Duplicate of Accounts, vol.3, p.11). For the collector, George Salting, the business both supplied and mounted drawings, 1873-6 (Guildhall Library, MS 19474).
Sources: G.W. Friend, An Alphabetical List of Engravings declared at the office of the Printsellers' Association, London ... 1847 to... 1891, 1892, pp.2, 7, 45 etc. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
Marseille M. Holloway 1850s, Holloway & Son 1870s, 25 Bedford St, Strand, London. Printseller, picture framemaker. A candidate for the next edition of this Directory, to include additional 19th and 20th-century framemakers. Contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.
John Honer, see Edward Hill & Co
**John Howard, London by 1697, parish of St Anne Soho by 1698-1709 or later, The King's Arms, Great Newport St by 1718 and probably continuously, 1744-1746, joiner, carver and gilder, picture framemaker. Gerrard Howard, London by 1727, carver and gilder to the Royal Family.
John Howard (active 1697, d.1746) and his son Gerrard (?1709-1781) were leading picture framemakers in the first half of the 18th century. They both occupied the post of Joiner of the Privy Chamber, sometimes described as the King's framemaker. In this capacity they produced frames for the numerous full-length portraits of the King presented to ambassadors and governors going abroad, bringing them into contact with Sir Godfrey Kneller and his successors as Painter to the King, namely Charles Jervas, William Kent and John Shackleton.
John Howard: John Howard married Susanna Mitchell in 1697 at St Luke Chelsea. They had several children including Elizabeth in 1698, John in 1703 and Gerard in 1709, christened at St Anne Soho. Their daughter Elizabeth married William James in 1719 at this church. John Howard was appointed to the post of Joiner of the Privy Chamber on 18 November 1707 in succession to John Norris (qv); he was followed by his son Gerrard on 16 September 1727 (National Archives, LC 3/5; Bucholz 2006). He died 'at his House in Newport Street' in 1746, having acquired 'a handsome fortune', through 'the Business of Picture Frame Making', and as ‘Master Joiner to the Royal Palace of St. James's, which place he some time since resign'd to one of his Sons' (London Evening Post 4 September 1746). In his will, made 17 July and proved 3 September 1746, John Howard, gentleman of St Anne Westminster, made his son Gerrard, his executor, and left various leasehold freehold properties to his offspring, including to Gerrard himself, his other son John, his daughter Elizabeth James and his granddaughter Frances Golding.
John Howard's earliest confirmed commission was at Drayton House, where he framed pictures in 1705 (Drayton House archive, information from Bruce Bailey, 2002).
Some of John Howard's work for Queen Anne was not paid for until 1720, when a warrant for £292.19s.7d was authorised for carved and gilded frames and cases for various pictures, including portraits of the Queen at full length, at £12 a frame, for Charles Caesar, Treasurer of the Navy until 1714, Lord Pagett, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Bingley, Monsieur Pless and the Earl of Stratford (Calendar of Treasury Papers, 1720-1728, 1889, p.13). Howard was entitled to considerable sums for framing pictures for King George I, including £300 for work in 1714/5, £340 in 1715, £494 in 1715-7, £393 in 1717 and £188 in 1717-8 (Calendar of Treasury Books, vols 29-32, 1957, payments here rounded to the nearest £); he supplied ‘carved & gilded frames for his Majesty's pictures' at £143 in 1727 (DEFM, quoting National Archives, LC 5/18). He also provided carved and gilt frames for the Gallery at Kensington Palace to William Kent's design, among the earliest, and certainly some of the finest frames in the 'Kent' style (Simon 1996 p.131, n.29, quoting LC 5/158 p.43, which also refers to ornaments between the pictures and windows for lustre).
When Sir William Withers, Lord Mayor, expressed reservations about displacing the King's portrait at Bridewell Hall to hang his own by Jonathan Richardson, John Howard is said to have exclaimed to his face, ‘is not a living dog better than a dead Lyon?' (Vertue vol.3, p.28; this incident would date to c.1710, from the named protagonists).
John Howard and his son, Gerrard, worked for the prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole, whose collection of old masters in London and at Houghton was one of the most important of the period, invoicing him in 1721 for £95.6s.2d for providing frames and other work on 28 paintings, including the considerable sum of £33 for framing an overmantel portrait of Walpole himself (Country Life, vol.49, 1921, p.105; Bottoms 2002 p.435). Howard invoiced in 1729 for a further £78.1s.2d, including ‘a very large Rich archetrive frame Carv'd & Guilt with gold with all the Ornaments' for a picture by Pietro da Cortona, and another very large carved and gilt frame for Hans Hysing's full-length portrait of Walpole himself (Bottoms 2002 p.435; DEF, vol.3, p.31). In the early 1720s many of the pictures that Walpole purchased from Lord Wharton's collection were seen by George Vertue at Howard's (Vertue vol.1, p.109).
For the Duke of Montrose in 1723, John Howard charged £22.12s for framing eight pictures, including £4.6s for Jonathan Richardson's Duke of Roxburgh; he charged a further 6s for straining two heads (Scottish Record Office, GD 220/6/1230/2, see also Richardson's bill, 220/6/1226/60). A further account in 1725 for supplying frames for Montrose's portraits by William Aikman was paid two years later to Gerrard Howard, who clearly identifies himself on his receipt as John Howard's son (Scottish Record Office, GD 220/6/1356/20).
Howard's work and that of his son went beyond picture framing to dealing in pictures and prints. He purchased paintings at a number of sales, from at least 1722 onwards. He also acted for Lord Effingham (Pears 1988 p.244 n.99). On occasion, he offered works for sale, auctioning a collection of prints of the most eminent masters at his premises, the King's Arms in Great Newport St, on 10 March 1718 (title details accessed through Google Book Search). It was presumably his son who advertised the picture collection of C. Harvey Esq for sale in 1744, when he added that he ‘also cleans, mends and frames Pictures in the best Manner, at reasonable Rates' (Daily Advertiser 6 February 1744, V&A Furniture Dept Archive).
Gerrard Howard: Gerrard Howard would appear to be the Gerard Howard, son of Jon and Susana Howard, who was born in August 1709 and christened at St Anne Soho. However, it is unexpected that at the early age of 18 he should follow his father as Joiner of the Privy Chamber on 16 September 1727 (National Archives, LC 3/64, p.96).
Gerrard Howard married twice, with a daughter Isabella from his first marriage, and a son Edmund Alexander (christened 1764) and daughter Rebecca from his second marriage, to Ann Mawhood in 1762. He subscribed to John Pine's The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords, 1739. He gave up his post as Joiner of the Privy Chamber, probably in 1752, when he was succeeded by René Stone (qv) (Office-holders in Modern Britain, vol.11). Following his retirement, he moved to Hampstead where he served as a magistrate from 1762. In his will, made 5 February and proved 1 March 1781, Gerard, or Gerrard Howard, gentleman of Hampstead, left properties in Leicester Square to his daughter Isabel, referring to his present wife Anne and their only son Edmund Alexander, and daughter Rebecca Crow. One of the Leicester Square houses was occupied by Mrs Hogarth, widow of the artist, William Hogarth.
Like his father, Gerrard Howard produced carved and gilded frames for the numerous full-length portraits of the King presented to ambassadors and governors going abroad, a steady and lucrative business which earned him more than £700 for carved and gilt frames in the year from December 1727, and further significant sums, again of more than £700 in 1729-31 (DEF, vol.3, pp.30-1; see National Archives, LC 5/18). His bills were subject to approval by Peter Walton, Surveyor of the King's Pictures. In the the mid-1730s, he supplied ‘a very large carved and gilt frame to a History Piece for the Great Stair Case at Hampton Court', namely Honthorst's Allegory of Charles I and his Queen as Diana, at £54.3s, and over the next 10 years he supplied frames to the value of almost £1000 (DEF, vol.3, p.31).
‘Mr Howard', presumably Gerrard Howard, undertook work for Earl Fitzwalter, a member of Walpole's circle, including cleaning and framing Kneller's Duke of Schomberg on horseback for a total of £25.5s.6d in 1731, and, as Gerrard Howard, was paid £10.1s in 1740 for framing works by Bellucci and Vander Myn (A.C. Edwards, The Account Books of Benjamin Mildmay, Earl Fitzwalter, 1977, pp.188-91).
Gerrard Howard worked for Jacob Tonson, nephew of the publisher of the same name, framing the Kit-cat Club portraits in 1733 in architrave frames for £2.2s each and producing six large carved and gilt frames with ‘Rais'd Corners & Middles' for other pictures for £11.18s in 1736 (Simon 1996 pp.124-5, 156, 60-1).
Sources: DEF, vol.3, pp.30-1; DEFM, pp.453-4; Simon 1994 pp.452, 454, n.64; National Archives, LC 5/158, p.431; Bottoms 2002 p.435. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
*Solomon Hudson, Oxford Market, London 1776, 16 Great Titchfield St, Cavendish Square by 1778-1793. Carver and gilder, cabinet maker and upholder.
A leading late 18th-century carver and gilder, with a significant workshop, judging from the value of his household goods, utensils and stock at 16 Titchfield St, insured with the Sun Fire Office in 1787 (Guildhall Library, vol.342 no.529400, see DEFM). Solomon Hudson, presumably the carver and gilder, married Ann Ashton at St Margaret's, London in 1762 and they had eight children who were christened at St Marylebone between 1765 and 1778, including a son, Solomon, in 1766.
On 24 July 1776 Solomon Hudson wrote from Oxford Market to the 3rd Duke of Portland at Burlington House, noting that he was previously employed by the duke as a carver and gilder at Burlington House, offering his services again, either in London or at Welbeck, and adding a postscript that he was a tenant of the duke, paying ground rent for a house in Portland Place (University of Nottingham, Pw F 5670, Portland papers). Hudson advertised his furniture warehouse for glasses, girandoles and picture frames at 16 Great Titchfield St in 1778, also offering inlaid pier tables, card tables and work tables (St James's Chronicle or the British Evening Post 10 January 1778). Subsequently he also advertised chimney ornaments, stands, candelabras and various kinds of furniture, finished in burnished gold, etc, high varnished, 'from the most trifling to the most superb and elegant designs' (Morning Post and Daily Advertiser 3 February 1786).
In 1787 Hudson subscribed to George Richardson's A Treatise on the Five Orders of Architecture (DEFM). He may be the carver, ‘S.H.', who published Twelve New Designs for Frames for Looking-Glasses, pictures &c. in 1779.
Hudson's work, listed in the Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, includes looking glass frames for West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire in 1780, extensive work for Sir John Griffin Griffin for his London house and for Audley End, Essex, 1781-90, including girandoles to Adam's design, a large oval Maratta frame for Lady Griffin's portrait in 1783 and a 'rich picture frame... to a pattern' for a view of Audley End House in 1789, as well as work for Blickling Hall, Norfolk, including pier and chimney glasses and frames for tapestry and full-length portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte for a total of more than £400 in 1782.
In September 1793 Hudson was paid for rich frames and glasses, made in 1791 for pastels by John Russell of the Prince of Wales and Mrs Fitzherbert (Millar 1969 p.109). He retired from trade in 1793 and his remaining stock was sold on his premises by Mr Christie in June that year (Morning Post 5 June 1793).
For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
Robert Hulton, Corner of Pall Mall, facing the Haymarket, London by 1710-1744 or later, also trading from Westminster Hall 1739. Print publisher and seller, print and picture restorer, picture framemaker.
See British picture restorers on the National Portrait Gallery website.
William Hurwood, see John Smith
Found a mistake? Have some extra information? Who should be added to this directory? Please contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk
