British picture framemakers, 1630-1950 - S
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
*Gideon Saint, The Golden Head, Princes St, Leicester Fields, London by 1763-1779 or later, 13 Charles Square, Hoxton by 1790-1791. Carver and gilder.
A Huguenot carver of French origin, Gideon Saint (1729-99) was the son of Jacques Saint of St Lo and Elizabeth Bosquet. He was apprenticed to Jacob Touzey in September 1743 (DEFM); for further details of theTousey family, see John Tousey. He married Marie Catherine Paisant at St James Westminster in 1762, and had a son in 1763, and a further five children between 1768 and 1773. He was one of the elders of the French church of Le Carré in Berwick St in 1775, along with Gideon and Isaac Gosset (qv) (Proceedings of the Huguenot Society, vol.9, 1909, pp.123-4). He may have retired from business in 1779 (DEFM). As Gedeon Saint of 13 Charles Square, Hoxton, he witnessed the will of the Rev. John Carle in 1790. In his own will, as a gentleman of Groombridge, Kent, late of Charles Square, dated 21 February and proved 4 May 1799, he made numerous charitable and personal bequests, including to his two sons, John and William.
Saint's scrapbook of ornamental designs (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), dating from about 1760, is a compendium of rococo and other designs for all kinds of carvings, including picture frames (see Simon 1996 fig.145). They are mainly derived from French and English pattern books of the period, cut up, pasted in, and arranged by type. This provided a form of catalogue, divided by furniture type, perhaps to show to customers. Saint's trade card, pasted inside the scrapbook, sets out his services, ‘Makes all sorts of Sconces, Girondoles, Chandeliers, Brackets, Tables, Chimney-Pieces, Picture Frames, &c, in the best and most Reasonable manner'.
Sources: Morrison H. Heckscher, ‘Gideon Saint: An Eighteenth-Century Carver and His Scrapbook', Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol.27, 1969, pp.299-311, to which this account is indebted. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
Charles Salmon, see Charles Mathyson
Sanderson, see Blundell & Sanderson
Joseph Sargood, see Garbanati & Sargood
J.R. Saunders, 65 Great Portland St, London by 1904-1928. Fine art dealer and 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.
*Eade & Saunders 1782-1783, William Saunders 1783-1810, Thomas Saunders 1815-1828 James Saunders 1819-1828. At 10 Great Castle St, Cavendish Square, London 1784-1810, 1815-1828. Carvers and gilders, picture framemakers.
‘Romney's framemaker' is how William Saunders has become known, as a result of the fortunate survival of his framing books listing his work for the artist. Initially Saunders was in partnership with Henry Eade but Eade died in 1784, leaving a will made 6 February and proved 12 February 1784, giving his address as Great Castle St, and describing William Saunders as his partner in trade and making him an executor jointly with his wife, Maria Eade. Saunders may be the individual who married Mary King on 24 February 1782 at St Mary Marylebone, having a son James in November 1782 and a further six or more children over the next 14 years but apparently not a son by the name of Thomas. Following William Saunders's retirement, his business seems to have been continued by Thomas and James Saunders, presumably his sons. In the 1810s and 1820s, James Saunders was listed at 10 Great Castle St in Kent's directories while Thomas was recorded in other directories, making it possible that both men were in business unless there be some confusion in the directory listings.
George Romney used Thomas Allwood (qv) as his framemaker until 1781, before turning to William Saunders in 1782. The early accounts are in the name of Eade & Saunders, but Saunders' partnership with Henry Eade broke up in 1783, and thereafter all the accounts are in Saunders' name. His frameshop was in Great Castle St, only a few hundred yards from Romney's studio in Cavendish Square. Saunders' framing books tell us about his relationship with Romney. There was an annual settling of accounts, and in the years 1783 to 1792, a ‘Discount of frames delivered' is often specifically listed, amounting to as much as 16%, which was credited to Romney. At the time it was common enough for a framemaker to make such payment to acknowledge business brought him by the artist (Simon 1996 p.90). The relationship between Saunders and Romney has been studied in some detail (see A note on George Romney and picture framing on the National Portrait Gallery website; Simon 1996 p.97). Commonly, Saunders' classical frames for Romney's works have a ribbed top edge and a ribbon-tied reeded sight edge, for example, The Spinstress, frame supplied 1785 (Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, London, see Simon 1996 p.36), and his William Paley, with a frame supplied 1790/1 (repr. Simon 1996 p.97). Saunders' trade label, with its distinctive cut corners, describes him as ‘Carver, Gilder, and Picture-Frame Maker'.
After Romney's death in 1802, William Saunders played a leading role in clearing up his estate, charging Romney's son, the Rev. John Romney, £189 for framing and others services between 1801 and 1810 (V&A National Art Library, 86.AA.24a, letters and invoices). Saunders helped William Blake to provide William Hayley with information concerning Romney's work, 1803-4 (Arthur B. Chamberlain, George Romney, 1910, pp.235-40), and subsequently assisted John Romney in his memoirs of his father's life and work. It is to Saunders, too, that we owe the survival of so much documentation relating to Romney's frames. The engraver, Thomas Wright, told John Romney in 1830 that, following George Romney's death, Saunders made frames for Mr Shee, that is Martin Arthur Shee (V&A National Art Library, 86.CC.32a).
William Saunders supplied picture frames to the 3rd Earl of Egremont, 1796-7 (West Sussex Record Office, PHA/7550) and a frame for Henry Dundas, later 1st Viscount Melville (DEFM). His frames have been found on John Hoppner's Henry Howard (Sotheby's 31 March 1999 lot 95) and John Opie's portraits, Sir James Earle and Lady Earle (Christie's 15 June 2001 lot 42).
Sources: Guildhall Library, Records of Sun Fire Office, vols 259 no.387108, 293 no.445463; note also an earlier policy for Henry Eade, dated July 1780, for his dwelling house at 3 Deans Place, near the Turnpike in the New Road, Tottenham Court (284/431199). For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
Alfred Robert Scott, see Buck & Scott
*Richard Scully 1854-1915, Richard Scully Ltd 1916-1932, Richard Scully (1932) Ltd 1932-1943. At 18 Banner St, London EC 1854-1857, 73 Banner St 1858-1867, 25 Gee St, Goswell Road 1867-1873, sawmills at 17a Norman's Buildings, St Luke's 1871-1873, 8 Banner St EC 1875-1895, 140 Old St EC 1880-1887, 10-12 Norman's Buildings 1880-1885, 8-11 Banner St 1886-1895, street renumbered 1895, 16-22 Banner St 1895-1932, 18-22 Banner St 1933-1936, 9-10 Mallow St EC1 1937-1943. Picture and looking glass framemakers; from 1880, wholesale composition and fancy wood picture frame moulding manufacturer.
Richard Scully (c.1832-1912) was born in the parish of St Luke Old St, in about 1832. It was subsequently claimed that the business was established in 1850 (see below under Robert Sielle for an invoice of 1931). Scully married Louisa Johnson (c.1833-1913) in the Poplar registration district in 1855. He was recorded at 118 Church Road in Canonbury in successive censuses as a picture framemaker, or simply as a framemaker, in 1871 as age 37, with wife Louisa and sons Frederick, age 13, and George, age 2, in 1881 as age 49, with wife and five sons and daughters, in 1891 as age 58, with two sons in the business, G.L. Scully as manager, age 22, and A.E. Scully as foreman, age 18, and in 1911 by now retired, with his wife and one daughter. Richard Scully died age 79 on 30 August 1912, described as a picture frame mouldings manufacturer (The Times 24 January 1913).
In the next generation, George Louis Scully (1869-1911) was born in the Islington registration district in 1869 and died age 42 in the Hackney registration district in 1911, while Albert Edward Scully (b.1872) was born in Islington registration district in 1872. A resolution for winding up Richard Scully Ltd, 16 Banner St, was passed in 1932 (London Gazette 7 June 1932). The business continued trading as Richard Scully (1932) Ltd.
Richard Scully was listed in the 1880 directory as ‘patentee & manfr of every description of composition, fluted & fancy wood picture frame mouldings on improved principles, in 12 ft lengths; the trade supplied; shipping orders executed with dispatch...; Banner steam moulding mills'. R. Scully took out patents in 1876 for ‘improvements in machinery... for making composition ornaments and in applying the same to mouldings' (London Gazette 6 October 1876) and in 1889 for ornamenting frames to obtain a frosted and glittering appearance (Katlan 1992 p.486).
Richard Scully's large format fully illustrated wholesale trade catalogue presents a very wide range of mouldings, some dating back to the 1880s (copy in National Monuments Record of Scotland; sample page repr. Simon 1996 p.45). Their products are divided into some 20 categories: Mouldings in the white (including Bartolozzi, Birket, Collins, Morland, Tadema and Watts frames), Plain oak mouldings, Oak and ivory mouldings, Inside flats and mouldings, Room mouldings, Acorn and laurel stick tops, Veneered fancy wood, Florentine frames, Louis and Chippendale frames, Swept frames, Lawrence frames, Masonic Frames, Oval frames, Venetian frames, Girandoles frames, Brackets, Glass and mirror frames, Royal Arms, Crowns and cushions and coronets, Trophies and centres, Corners, Cornices. This range is not so very different to those of other wholesale moulding manufacturers such as Ashworth Kirk (qv) and H. Morrell (qv), both of which issued catalogues.
For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
**John Selden (active 1688, died 1713/4), Richmond, Surrey, also Petworth, Sussex 1713. Carver.
John Selden, sometimes spelt Seldon, spent much of his working career at Petworth House in Sussex. He is not known to have worked elsewhere. He is possibly the John Selden who married Martha Lucas at All Hallows London Wall in 1683, but there were many men of his name. He is said to have lost his life in saving the carvings in the Carved Room at Petworth during a fire (Vertue vol.2, p.81). This fire seems to have taken place on 31 December 1713, according to a newspaper report (British Mercury, no.444, 30 December 1713-6 January 1714). Selden has sometimes been identified with the John Selden who was buried at Petworth on 12 January 1715 (DEFM, Beard 1981 p.284), but it would seem that this may be a misreading for 12 January 1713 Old Style, that is 12 January 1714 in the modern calendar.
In his will, made 30 March 1713 and proved 9 March 1714, John Selden, carver of Richmond, Surrey, ‘but at this time being at Pettworth in Sussex', bequeathed to his wife, Martha, his freehold estates in Portsmouth, together with monies owing him and various goods, making her his executrix, and bequeathing to his kinsman, Nicholas Selden and to Nicholas's sisters, Jane and Mary, 20s each to buy a ring. His will was witnessed by John Messenger, Joseph Allsup and George Hoare, perhaps craftsmen or servants at Petworth.
Selden worked extensively at Petworth for the 6th Duke of Somerset, the so-called ‘Proud Duke', 1688-97, and subsequently, apparently receiving quarterly and later annual wage payments (Beard 1981 p.284, with further details; DEFM). He provided a ‘large chimneypiece for the dining roome carved with fowles fishes and flowers', receiving payment in the accounts for 1689-90; this elaborately carved surround is almost certainly now the setting of the portrait of Henry VIII after Holbein in the Carved Room (Petworth House, guidebook, revised ed., 1992, p.17). He probably worked in the Chapel, c.1689-91, but the accounts for carving do not survive (Petworth House, guidebook, revised ed., 1992, p.25). He also procuced carvings for the Marble Hall of State, completed 1692. He supplied a number of picture frames including one 'carved with fouldings and flowers', containing 22 foot at 5s a foot, for the dining room chimney in 1689-90 (Jackson-Stops 1980 p.799).
Sources: Beard 1981 pp.139, 284. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
James Sheers, 27 Church St, Croydon by 1865-1884 or later, 55 Church St by 1888-1916 or later. Picture framemaker.
See British artists' suppliers on the National Portrait Gallery website.
George Henry Shepherd 1871, Shepherd Bros 1876-1903. At 6 Angel Row, Market Place, Nottingham by 1871-1901, 27 King St, St James's, London 1882-1913. Printer, stationer, bookseller and bookbinder 1871, picture dealers and printsellers, also picture restorers and framemakers from 1885 and publishers from 1890.
See British picture restorers on the National Portrait Gallery website.
*Robert Sielle, 18 Belsize Park, London NW3 1931-1934 or later, 14 Buckingham St, Fitzroy Square, W1 1935-1937, street renamed 1937, Wollaston House, 14 Greenwell St 1937-1947, The Old Hall, 21 St Alban's Grove, Kensington, W8 5BP 1948-1982. Picture framemaker and exhibition agent.
Robert Sielle (1895-1983) was a leading London framemaker from the 1930s until the 1970s. As a young man, he served as a fighter pilot in the First World War, and then took up show dancing professionally. Born in Liverpool as Cecil Leon Roberts, or C.L. Roberts, he took Sielle as his surname, from his initials, ‘C.L.', to avoid confusion with another dancer by the name of Roberts. He appeared in the chorus line at the Adelphi Theatre, and then as the stage partner of Sir John Mills's sister, Annette Mills, who became his first wife.
When Sielle gave up dancing, he set up in business, initially advertising as C. Roberts, artistic and house decorations, from 18 Belsize Park (his home address from at least 1929-35). Then a friend, the artist Stanley Gardiner, asked him to sell some frames for him. By report, Sielle realized that he had a talent for suiting the frame to the painting, and was also a good salesman. Subsequently, he claimed to have been a consultant in framing works of art since 1930 (The Artist, vol.57, March 1959, p.v). By 1931 he had set up a framing studio in partnership with Gardiner, before trading independently. A series of invoices for the supply of mouldings from Richard Scully Ltd (qv), dating to 1931, are made out to Gariner (sic) & Sielle. Robert Sielle also advertised as a model and pattern maker, making models from aerial photographs during the Second World War.
After the dissolution of his first marriage, Robert Sielle married Marguerite Milton, and their daughter, Alice Sielle, to whom this account is indebted, undertook colour mixing in his studio in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Other assistants included the gilder, Len Hughes in the 1940s and 1950s, Vilmo Gibello in the late 1940s or early 1950s (information from Patricia Reed, 20 June 1996), John Kevan in the 1950s, Robert Scott in the early 1960s, and Nick Hawker (d.2006) from about 1964 until 1980, before he set up independently and then worked for John Jones (Simon 1996 p.189). In 1971 Sielle seems to have entered into a business arrangement with George Robins of Design Animations Ltd to market aluminium and acrylic frames. Sielle held an exhibition of his frames at the British Craft Centre, Earlham St, in 1975, the only exhibition of this kind in Britain, celebrating his continuing search for new materials, such as aluminium, brass, stainless steel and perspex for frames, and velvet, silk and hand-coloured linen for mounts. In 1980 he went into partnership with Drummond Cuthbert, who had previously worked for the business. Sielle was a member of the Art Workers Guild.
Although a great self-publicist, Sielle seems to have avoided listings in London trade directories, which is unusual for a framemaker in commercial business. Sielle produced articles on framing for various art magazines, dealing mainly with the aesthetic marriage of picture and frame, which was his particular facility. In his three articles, ‘The Art of Framing', published in 1951 in The Artist, he provided wide-ranging advice on picture framing.
Robert Sielle continued to frame paintings up to his death at the age of 88 in 1983. In a posthumous tribute, the artist Kyffin Williams noted how Sielle treated all pictures individually, so much so that ‘sometimes I felt that he took longer deliberating on the best way to frame a picture than it took me to paint it'.
Picture framing work: Soon after Sielle set up in business, he advertised in 1933 as ‘The new frame maker with new ideas and new service', setting out his services: ‘Sielle and the R.A. The important problem of choosing a frame for your R.A. picture can be dealt with in no better way than by consulting ROBERT SIELLE-the new frame maker-whose contention is that a work of art, demanding months of labour, deserves something better than a machine-made frame. Mr. Sielle visits artists in their own studios, without obligation... He specialises in designing frames to suit the pictures, and toning them in keeping with the general colour scheme.... OVER ONE-HALF of the artists contributing to this magazine are customers of ROBERT SIELLE' (The Artist, vol.5, March 1933, p.xv). By 1937 he was offering ‘Sielle Made-to-Subject Frames. Sielle specially designed, made, and toned-to-subject frames at professional prices' (The Artist, vol.13, March 1937, p.xii).
Sielle worked for many leading artists, including Craigie Aitchison, Edward Ardizzone in 1950, John Armstrong by 1939 (see below), Frank Auerbach, Peter Blake, Merlyn Evans, Anthony Green, Patrick Heron, Ivon Hitchens, David Hockney, Eliot Hodgkin, Augustus John, L.S. Lowry, Rodrigo Moynihan 1949-1950, John Napper 1951-3, William Nicholson, John Piper 1950, Alan Reynolds, Ceri Richards, William Scott 1947-51, Kyffin Williams and Edward Wolfe 1951 (information from Robert Scott, 1999, and Alice Sielle, 1996). Other names occurring in Sielle's sale ledger include Buhler 1949-50, Devas 1949-52, Greenham 1951, Hailstone 1950-1, Le Brocquy 1951, and McBean 1950. Sielle probably worked for many of these artists over a longer period; documented dates are given here.
John Armstrong has left an intriguing account of the framing of his pictures by Robert Sielle (‘My Paintings and their frames', The Studio, vol.117, 1939, pp.142-5), reproducing seven framed works, including Funeral of a Poet (the frame ‘emphasises the flat treatment of the painting by simple carved moulding standing out in relief'), Love in the Desert (‘to preserve the dream-like qualities of the painting', it is isolated from the frame, which is ‘made in the shape of a tray in which the painting appears to float') and The Forsaken Street (‘The melancholy atmosphere of peeling brickwork has been carried into and formalised into the frame').
Ivon Hitchens was the only painter for whom Sielle made white frames; in general he objected to white frames as being too dazzling, and even those made for Hitchens were given a stone-coloured wash. Eliot Hodgkin made a painting, Robert Sielle's File, exh.1963, of a file of delivery notes suspended from a hook on the wall (repr. Eliot Hodgkin 1905-1987. Painter & Collector, exh.cat., Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, 1990, no.67).
Sielle was employed by the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery and the Imperial War Museum. At the National Gallery, according to his own account, he was commissioned by the Director, Sir Kenneth Clark, to reframe J.M.W. Turner's The Fighting Teméraire and Interior at Petworth, with new frames finished in silver rather than gold, an innovatory step which met with a mixed reception. At the Tate, he was asked to replace unfashionable or inadequate frames, some of them damaged originals, on as many as 50 pictures from 1949 to 1956, including Benjamin Robert Haydon's Punch or May Day in 1956, and John Frederick Lewis's Edfou, Upper Egypt. In his 1951 articles in The Artist, he reproduced a revealing ‘before' and ‘after' example of reframing for the Tate, in the form of J.M.W. Turner's Angel standing in the Sun, first exhibited in 1846. Instead of a dynamic rococo-revival frame, perhaps the original, which he was asked to replace, he has substituted a more static frame in ‘muted gold', a ‘formal repetition..., allowing the rhythm of the passage in the picture full play'. Sielle's work for the Tate Gallery, framing both old and modern pictures, deserves study in greater depth. At the Imperial War Museum he undertook framing work on a number of pictures from 1975 to 1977.
Pictures in other public collections in Sielle frames include John Napper's Queen Elizabeth II, 1953 (Corporation of Liverpool) and David Poole's The Silver Jubilee Luncheon, 1978 (Guildhall Art Gallery). A series of photographs shows the production of the Napper frame. Other collections with frames by Sielle, according to his own account, include Buckingham Palace and the White House. He also produced some frames for the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, in 1960, and for commercial galleries including the Leicester Galleries 1951, the Marlborough Gallery 1950-2, the Redfern Gallery 1951 and, apparently, Gimpel 1950-1, 1960 (Sielle probably worked for these galleries over a longer period; documented dates are given here).
Sources: information kindly supplied by Alice Sielle and from the remaining papers of Robert Sielle, on loan from Alice Sielle; also information from Imperial War Museum files, including Sielle's notice of his 1980 partnership (information from Jenny Wood, October 2007). The Art of Framing. An Exhibition of Pictures Framed by Robert Sielle, British Craft Centre, 1975; Obituary, The Times 26 May 1983; John Armstrong, ‘My Paintings and their frames', The Studio, vol.117, 1939, pp.142-5; Robert Sielle, ‘The Art of Framing', The Artist, vol.41, March-May 1951, pp.10-11, 32-3, 67-8; Don Shakespeare, 'The Most Renowned Practising Framer in the United Kingdom', Art Dealer & Framer, vol.5, Illinois, April 1978, pp.9-13, 58 (for Nick Hawker). The above text has been prepared with help from Lynn Roberts. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
*A.R. Skillen 1920-1935, A.R. Skillen & Co 1936-1941. At 17 Lambs Conduit St, London WC1 1920-1941. Picture framemakers, carvers and gilders.
Arthur Robert Skillen (b. c.1864) was recorded in the 1891 census at 4 Southampton Row, Bloomsbury as a picture framemaker and gilder, age 27, together with his uncle, James Harnell, picture frame manufacturer, age 53. He was listed in 1901 census in Fulham, as a picture framemaker (worker), born Crayford in Kent, and in 1911 in Wandsworth with his wife, daughter and two young sons. The business of James Richard Harnell & Son, carvers and gilders, traded at 4 Southampton Row and subsequently at 17 Lambs Conduit St where it was listed in 1918. Skillen took over the business in his own name from 1920 when he was in his late fifties.
John Smallhorn, 32 George St, Oxford St, London 1836, 9 Cleveland St, Fitzroy Square 1838-1847, 34 Foley St, Portland Square 1846. Carver and gilder, looking glass and picture framemaker.
John Smallhorn (b.1806 or before) and his wife, Mary Ann, had five or six children between 1838 and 1846, most of them baptised at All Souls, Marylebone. He was listed as a carver and gilder in the 1841 census at Cleveland St, age 35 (ages were rounded down in this census to the nearest five years). He filed a petition for protection from bankruptcy in 1846, when residing at 9 Cleveland St and carrying on business at 34 Foley St (London Gazette 16 October 1846). His apprentice, James Bourlet (qv), took over his premises at 34 Foley St by 1850. Smallhorn and his family do not appear in subsequent British census or birth, marriage and death records, leading to the speculation that they may have emigrated.
Smallhorn's frame trade label, from 9 Lower Cleveland St, advertised his services as 'Carver and Gilder. Wholesale Looking Glass and Picture Frame Maker. Manufacturer of all kinds of [illegible]' (example on David Wilkie's Abraham Raimbach, National Portrait Gallery).
William Smart 1823-1844, William Smart junr 1849-1853. At Newnham Place, Bishopsgate St, London 1823-1824, 18 Crown St, Finsbury 1826-1853. Carpenter and ornamental composition maker.
William Smart may be connected with John Smart, an earlier composition ornament manufacturer at 96 Bunhill Row in 1784 and 128 Bishopsgate without from 1785. William Smart took out insurance from Newnham Place with the Sun Fire Office in 1823 and 1824 as carpenter and ornamental composition maker. ‘Mr Smart' was renting premises at Crown St, Finsbury in 1841, at the time that the freehold was sold (The Times 23 September 1841). William Smart junr, presumably his son, subsequently traded as an architectural modeller from 41 Clifton St, Finsbury, by 1855.
Descriptions such as ‘Smarts ornaments' and 'Smarts corners' appear in the ledgers of John Smith (qv) from 1812, suggesting that one or other Smart was among the sources used by Smith for composition ornaments for his picture frames, whether as a subcontracting supplier or a source of moulds (see also Simon 1996 p.140).
Sources: Guildhall Library, Records of Sun Fire Office, vols 477, 489, 494, 495. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
Smith & McFarlane by 1839-1841 or later, J. Smith & Co 1843, John Douglas Smith 1844-1879, J.S. Smith 1880-1887? At 7 Elm Row, Edinburgh 1839, 13 Shakespeare Square 1840-1841, 33 West Register St 1840-1866, 21 South Frederick St 1867-1882 or later, 26 Castle St. Carvers and gilders, picture restorers.
For details of this business, see British artists' suppliers on the National Portrait Gallery website.
George Smith, Kensington by 1822, 31 High St, Kensington by 1828-1833 (also Robert Smith in 1828), 54 High St 1835-1837, 11 High St 1838, 11 Old Terrace, High St 1839, 20 Young St, Kensington 1840-1844. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker.
In 1822 one of John Constable's most important patrons, John Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, directed him to use the Smiths, father and son, for framing his order, framemakers whom Constable came to categorise as ‘the wretched Smiths', describing the son as a ‘wretched lying young rascal'. Fisher had first used ‘old Smith' for framing Constable's works in 1817, and later in 1822 told the artist that father and son had set up shop together in Kensington very near the Palace. In exasperation at their inability to compete an order, Fisher was reduced to asking Constable to buy gold leaf for Smith in 1823 and even ‘to pay the Ornament maker his two Pounds', which suggests that the Smiths bought in both their gold leaf and their compo ornament as it was needed.
In 1824, at the Middlesex Sessions court, a case was brought against the carver and gilder, G.R. Smith of Kensington by his apprentice, leading to the court chairman finding that, ‘It was not Mr Smith's fault that he was in bad circumstances; but he had no right to take an apprentice, and with a premium too, for which he could not reasonably provide' (The Times 18 September 1824). It is difficult to trace the Smiths of Kensington but father or son appears to be identifiable with George Smith, for whom two addresses are given above. In addition, Robert Smith was listed at 31 High St in 1828, and John Smith at 11 Terrace, Kensington High St in 1836, and 19 Kensington High St, 1851-6.
Sources: Beckett 1964 p.229, Beckett 1968 pp.102, 112, 127, 146-7. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
*John Bryce Smith 1883-1921, J. Bryce Smith Ltd 1922-1965. At 117 Hampstead Road, London NW ('near Euston Station') 1883-1965. Wholesale painting brush manufacturers, later artists' colourmen and picture framemaker.
For full details of this business, primarily an artists' colourman, see British artists' suppliers on the National Portrait Gallery website.
In the early 1900s, Smith was producing polished hardwood moulding frames for William Strang for his prints and drawings (information kindly supplied by Osmund Bullock, 2009; such mouldings are found on drawings of the Chadwyck-Healey family, 1905, a drypoint of George Bernard Shaw, 1907, and a drawing of William Henry Gurney Salter, 1911). John B. Smith's two trade labels from this period are both illustrated with an artist's palette; that on the 1911 frame refers to his works in Prince of Wales Drive. As part of a wider programme of framing work by war artists in 1919, Smith provided Spanish moulding frames, burnished gilt frames and black panel frames (Imperial War Museum, bound papers, ‘First World War Frames'). In 1940 the business was advertising ‘FRAMES. Old Frames. New Frames. Narrow Frames. Wide Frames. French Finished Frames. Antique Finished Frames. Gold Frames. Oak Frames. Black Frames and Gilt Frames.' (The Artist, vol.19, March 1940, p.v).
*John Smith 1802-1829, John Smith & Son 1830-1839, John M. & Samuel Smith 1840-1852, John Mountjoy Smith 1852-1876, not listed 1877, 1878-1880. At 98 Swallow St, Piccadilly, London 1802-1822, 49 Great Marlborough St 1821-1828, 137 New Bond St 1829-1876, 43 Old Bond St 1878-1880, later in Duke St. Carvers and gilders, picture framemakers, subsequently picture dealers.
John Smith (1781-1855) is one of the best documented of picture framers and picture dealers, thanks to the survival of a remarkable set of day books from 1812, together with stock books from 1822, account and cashbooks from 1840/1, and other records covering the period 1812-1908 (V&A National Art Library). Smith successfully developed his business from frame making into picture dealing. In 1824 he sold Rubens's Chapeau de Paille to Sir Robert Peel for £2725 (Simon 1996 p.145). His activities as a picture dealer have been studied by Charles Sebag-Montefiore and are not discussed here. Smith was author of A catalogue raisonné of the work of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters, published 1829-42.
In 1794, John Smith was apprenticed to William Hurwood, carver and gilder of 18 Conduit St ('A Memoir of the author [John Smith] by his grandson', Connoisseur, vol.5, 1903, p.214). He set up in business soon after the end of his apprenticeship in 1801. His early trade label simply described him as 'J. Smith, Carver & Gilder, Looking Glass Manufacturer, and Picture Frame Maker, 98 Swallow Street, near Conduit Street' (example on John Hoppner's George IV as Prince of Wales, Wallace Collection, London). By 1817, he was listed as carver and gilder to the Prince Regent in Johnstone's directory. By the 1820s he was describing himself as ‘Picture Frame Maker, by Appointment To His Majesty, Carver, Gilder & Looking Glass Manufacturer, Et Marchand de Tableaux', also advertising that he lined, cleaned and restored pictures, and giving his address as ‘49 Great Marlborough Street, Late of 98 Swallow Street' (example reproduced in A Hang of English Frames, Arnold Wiggins & Sons, 1996).
In 1825, John Smith attended a meeting of more than fifty master carvers and gilders who resolved to resist the demands of journeymen for an increase in wages (The Times 30 June 1825). In due course his two sons, John Mountjoy Smith (c.1803-1869) and Samuel Mountjoy Smith (c.1809-1874) took on the business, primarily as picture dealers (they were significant purchasers at the Stowe sale in 1848, see Forster 1848 pp.154, 165, 175-7, 184, 194). Their partnership was dissolved in 1852 (London Gazette 21 December 1852), when John Mountjoy Smith continued the business.
Picture framing work: John Smith made some very rich and heavy frames and modified existing ones to give them the weight and richness that Regency collectors expected (Simon 1996 pp.68-9). He also supplied antique French frames and revival French swept frames from as early as 1812 (Simon 1996 p.70).
For the Prince Regent, the future George IV, he undertook framing work from 1810, including frames for John Hoppner's George IV as Prince of Wales, a reframing of 1810 (Wallace Collection), J.L. Agasse's Lord Heathfield, in or before 1814, Charles Henry Schwanfelder's The Malcolm Arabian, 1814, and Abraham Cooper's Fleur-de-lis, 1827 (Royal Collection, see Millar 1969 nos 650, 710, 1069).
For the Prince's friend and adviser, Lord Yarmouth, Smith undertook much framing work, at least from 1812 to 1820, mainly for old master paintings, some of which are now in the Wallace Collection. In 1819 and 1820 Smith added ‘artists trophies' to the top of various frames, visible in old photographs of the Wallace Collection (information from Robert Wenley, 13 July 1995). Interestingly, in 1821 Smith undertook similar but even more elaborate work for George IV, in the form of ‘116 Ornamental Trophies (composed of Artists Implements) prepared and gilt in burnished Gold and writing the Painters names of each Picture upon d[itt]o and fitting in fixing the whole upon their proper Frames', at the substantial cost of £288.
John Constable in his journal in December 1826 compares the work of three framemakers whom he was using at this period: ‘Cruzac works much cheaper than Coward - but not so fine & finished as Smith.' (Beckett 1964 p.417), apparently referring to Joseph Crouzet (qv), John Coward (qv) and John Smith. We can learn something of Constable's old master paintings from Smith's day books, where Constable is recorded as paying £50 in 1831 for 'A magnificent church piece... by E. de Witt', including 'a handsome 5 ins M[ouldin]g gilt frame with corners & scrools, raking leaf, egg & french mouldg[ing]s'. Smith framed work for C.R. Leslie and his patrons in the 1830s, including his Grosvenor Family for the Marquess of Westminster in 1832, described in interesting detail. Smith also framed pictures for John Sheepshanks in 1836 (Simon 1996 pp.88, 90).
Other clients listed in the Smith ledgers for picture framing work include Sir William Beechey in 1812, Mr Buchanan 1812, John James Chalon 1821, Henry Edridge, Lord Francis Egerton 1837, Charles Long, [Daniel?] Mesman, Sir Arthur Paget 1812, Sir Robert Peel 1828-32, Lord Charles Townshend 1827 (for a picture by William Collins), the Earl of Uxbridge 1812, William Wells 1828, and Benjamin West 1812 (for The Golden Age, Tate).
John Smith's ledgers often detail the sources of his ornament. Thus for Lt-Col. Addenbrooke in 1812 he produced two 'handsome frames', richly ornamented with 'Temples bands, My Corners, Egg M[ouldin]g with inside oval Turn'd Spandrils enrich'd with Blundels Dolphin ornament'. Temple was presumably the leading maker, Thomas Temple (qv), and Blundell probably William Blundell (qv), who were perhaps acting as subcontracting suppliers or as sources of moulds, a subject that requires further exploration. Elsewhere Smith referred to 'Blundells bead', 'Blundells flat laurel', 'Bowers corners', 'Derby corners', 'Freemans Grecian leaf', 'Greens foliage', 'Jacksons rich shell moulding', 'Jacksons egg', 'Jacksons frilled edge', 'Leaders corners', 'Moselys corners', 'Pratts shell', 'Smarts corners', 'Touzets bubble' and 'Woodburns corners', a veritable panoply of ornament, named for the most part after framemakers and composition ornament makers, probably including John and Thomas Bowers, Joseph Green (qv), Thomas Jackson (qv), John Pratt, John Tousey (qv) and Allen Woodburn (qv). Smith's ledgers also provide an insight into the breakdown of costs of the different elements of frame making, from woodwork to compo ornaments and gold leaf (Simon 1996 p.144).
Smith undertook occasional picture cleaning work for Thomas Temple, 1818-20 (V&A National Art Library, 86.CC.1, Smith ledger, vol.1, pp.565, 759, 811).
Sources: For Constable, see Smith Day Book, vol.2, p.256. For C.R. Leslie, see Smith Day Book, vol.2, pp.172, 258, 361, 392, 401, 406, 485, 513, 546; see also John Smith album, items 84-5, letters from Leslie concerning framing, from Petworth, 1834, and for Lady Holland, 1840, with many thanks to Charles Sebag-Montefiore. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
Peter Smith, see Peter Babell and Joseph Duffour
*W.A. Smith 1871-1888, Smith & Uppard 1889-1898. At 14 Charles St, Middlesex Hospital, London W 1871-1880, street renamed and numbered 1880, 22 Mortimer St 1880-1890, 20 Mortimer St 1884-1888, 77 Mortimer St 1889-1898, W.A. Smith also at 4 Victoria St, Nottingham by 1881, and School of Art, Waverley St, Nottingham 1885. Carvers and gilders, picture framemakers, printsellers and publishers, fine art packers.
William Augustine Smith (c.1828-1909), sometimes spelt ‘Augustin', traded in London and Nottingham. Smith and his son, Thomas Richard Smith (1851-1933), had accounts with the artists' suppliers, Roberson, 1883-1908, from 20 Mortimer St, London, 4 Victoria St, Nottingham and 14 Bottle Lane, Nottingham. In the 1861 census Smith was living in Hackney, recorded as a mould carver, age 30; in 1871 at 14 Charles St, as a carver, age 43, employing six men and three boys, with wife and seven children, the oldest born in Manchester; in 1881 at 11 Grove Terrace, Middlesex as a carver and gilder, born Marylebone, age 53, with wife and three children; and in 1891 living on his own at the District Constitutional Club, St Martin-in-the-Fields. By 1891 the Nottingham business had passed to his son who was still trading in 1912 from 14-16 Bottle Lane, Nottingham. William Augustine Smith died in Hampstead in 1909, his age recorded as 79. His children, John Caswall Smith (1866-1902) and Lizzie Caswall Smith (1870-1958) were both successful photographers (information from Bernard Wheeler, September 2009).
William A. Smith acquired the picture framing business of Joseph Green (qv) in about 1871. He advertised as a carver and gilder, and conveyancer of fine arts, describing himself as agent for numerous art societies in London and around the country, as well as for international exhibitions (The Artists' Directory 1875, p.195). The firm claimed to have been established in 1801, when Joseph Green senr set up in business. It became Smith and Uppard in 1889, with Edwin Uppard (qv) as a partner. It advertised as ‘Carvers, Gilders, and Fine Art Packers...(Late W.A. Smith)', offering special designs to order and French artists' colours and materials of(The Year's Art 1892, and subsequently). In 1899, the firm was apparently acquired by James Bourlet & Sons (qv), another old established business. Uppard subsequently traded independently.
Picture framing work: Some of Green's more fastidious artist clients moved away when Smith took over the business in 1871 but he continued to work for artists like G.F. Watts, John Strudwick and Edward Stott. Holman Hunt was still referring to the firm as Messrs 'Green of Charles Street' as late as 1877. Hunt described the business as possibly the best gilder and maker, saying that 'one of the men there carves in after hours', a further recommendation in an age when most framemakers dealt only in compo frames (Simon 1996 p.134). Hunt continued to use Smith into the 1880s; the Mannerist frame on his memorial portrait of Rossetti, c.1882, was made by Smith (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; repr. Wildman 1995 no.26, Bronkhurst 2006 p.342, Mitchell & Roberts 1996 p.383), as may have been two other similar frames, for Amaryllis, 1883-93 (private coll.), and The Lady of Shalott, c.1887-92 (Manchester Art Gallery). See the section ‘Frames' in Bronkhurst 2006, especially pp.342-3.
Smith's skills as a carver were probably developed as a young man when for a time he was a mould carver. He kept a studio in Newman St where a private display of his wood carvings was shown to friends in 1894, among them G.F. Watts (Studio, vol.3, 1894, p.64).
G.F. Watts used Smith for many years. Smith was described in 1912 by Watts's second wife as ‘The head of the firm of carvers and gilders... who gave Signor service for sixty years', and in 1898 by George Williamson as ‘a somewhat illiterate maw... in the Master's confidence' (Simon 1996 p.173, no.80, n.2). The changing nature of the business can be traced through the labels on Watts's frames: ‘W.A SMITH, (LATE J. GREEN)' on Thoby Prinsep, 1871 (Watts Gallery, Compton); ‘W.A. SMITH, Carver and Gilder, ... LONDON W.' on his Self-portrait, 1880 (Uffizi Gallery), and a somewhat similar label on Matthew Arnold, 1880 (National Portrait Gallery, repr. Simon 1996 p.74); and ‘SMITH & UPPARD (Successors to W.A. Smith)...77, MORTIMER STREET' on a later Self-portrait, 1903-4 (Watts Gallery). Another example can be found on Watts's Alfred Tennyson, framed in 1887 (National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, see Payne 2007 p.143).
John Singer Sargent used Smith in 1887 (Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent, vol.1, The Early Portraits, 1998, p.180). John Strudwick can be found complaining about his framemaker, almost certainly Smith & Uppard, to one of his patrons in 1896, ‘I write to my framemaker from time to time, in as strong languages as I can comfortably use, but there is no result'. He waited three months for the frame for this work, St Cecilia, 1896, which like his earlier Circe and Scylla, c.1886, has Smith & Uppard's label (Sudley Hall, Liverpool, see Morris 1996 pp.440, 445). Burne-Jones referred to the firm in the last year of his life, joking that even if he had been painting on a wall, ‘Smith and Uppard will come and carry it away presently' (G. Burne-Jones, Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones, 1904, vol.2, p.334).
Other labelled frames include Lord Leighton's Capri: Sunrise, 1860, perhaps framed when sold by the artist in 1872 (Christie's 14 June 2000 lot 13) and A Sunny Corner, c.1872-5 (Sudley Art Gallery, Liverpool, see Morris 1996 p.264), Albert Moore's Study of a draped figure, c.1875 (Sotheby's 5 November 1997 lot 219), Keeley Halswelle's The Heart of the Coolins, Isle of Skye, 1886, and Frank Dicksee's The Crisis, 1891 (both National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, see Payne 2007 pp.145-7), Henry Moore's A Breezy Day, 1887, and G.D. Leslie's September Sunshine, 1896 (both Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, see Morris 1994 pp.80, 84).
For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
*Charles David Soar 1883-1906, C.D. Soar & Son 1907-1997. At 1 Sussex Villas, Kensington, London W 1883-1905, renamed 1905, 1 Launceston Place W8 1905-1918, 3 and/or 4 Launceston Place 1920-1997. Carvers and gilders, artists' colourmen.
In 1882 Charles David Soar (1853-1939) was in partnership with Robert Varley as Varley and Soar, carvers and gilders, 22 Great Ormond St, London WC, and in the 1881 census he was described as a junior partner. He then set up independently, and had an account with the suppliers, Roberson from his Kensington address, 1883-1908 (Woodcock 1997). In the 1901 census he was listed at 37 Dryburgh Road, Putney as a carver and gilder, age 48, with wife Mary, son John age 21 and daughter Grace age 20, both of whom appear to have been working in the business. In 1911, still at this address, his daughter, Grace, was recorded as a wood carver. Grace is said by her father to have ‘turned out some good work until she turned it up on marriage' (information from Peter Soar, 12 April 2005, taken from a family history, written by Charles Soar shortly before his death in 1939).
An agent for Cambridge colours, 1897, made by Madderton & Co Ltd (qv), Soar advertised in Madderton's literature as a picture framemaker and artists' colourman. He also stocked other makes of artists' supplies as he advertised on his printed trade label, from 1 Sussex Villas (and so presumably before 1906), describing himself as 'PRACTICAL CARVER & GILDER,/ ARTISTS' COLOURMAN./ ROBERSON'S, WINSOR & NEWTON'S and ROWNEY'S/ COLOURS IN STOCK.'
Charles Soar was an accomplished microscopist and co-author and illustrator of British Hydracarina, a three-volume work on water mites published by the Ray Society 1925-9 (information from Peter Soar).
From at least 1896, Soar's brother, Alfred James Soar (b.1867), also traded as a picture frame maker, printseller and artists' colourman, from 16 Knight's Hill, West Norwood.
*John Sotheby, 14 Strand, London 1772-1773, 13 Strand, opposite Hungerford Market 1775, 473 Strand 1778. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker and printseller.
John Sotheby may be the ‘Southerby' to whom James Linnell (qv) was apprenticed, perhaps about 1773, and the ‘John Sotherley', carver and gilder, who polled from the Strand in 1774 (DEFM); it has been suggested that he may even be the ‘I. Sotheby', a Derby carver and gilder, who took an apprentice in 1769 (Barker 2009 p.204). In 1773 Sotheby advertised as printseller and framemaker from 14 Strand, offering mezzotint proof prints by Dixon, Watson and Burke after the work of Joshua Reynolds, Angelica Kauffman and Mr Cotes (Gazeteer and New Daily Advertiser 19 January 1773). His trade card from 13 Strand describes him as ‘Carver, Gilder, Picture-frame Maker & Printseller' (Banks coll., with added date 1788). His premises at 473 Strand was subsequently occupied by James Birchall (qv).
In 1775, Sotheby advertised an early form of compo for picture frames, from 13 Strand, near Lancaster Court, claiming that ‘his invention of ornaments laid on to picture frames... looks equally elegant to those carved in the neatest manner, even to bear the nicest inspection, and at much less expense; is of a hardness near to stone, and will burnish preferable to carvings in wood, as it is itself a sufficient body, without injuring the sharpness of the wood, which the preparation for gilding on wood or paper, will always do. Patterns May be seen...' (Morning Post and Daily Advertiser 12 April 1775).
Joseph Wright of Derby used John Sotheby as an agent, as is clear from a letter he wrote in April 1773 from Derby to ‘Mr Sotheby, carver & gilder near Lancaster Court, Strand, London', saying that he had sent him two cases, one containing his two pictures of an iron forge and a captive king, the other two pictures by Miss Turner of Liverpool, and giving further instructions about the forthcoming exhibition (Royal Academy Archive, SA/39/60, Incorporated Society of Artists of Great Britain papers; see Barker 2009 p.73, letter 8). He was mentioned again by Wright at this address in about 1780 in his account book (National Portrait Gallery, see Barker 2009 p.9). Wright had previously used Dubourg (qv) for picture framing and went on to use Milbourne (qv).
It is not possible to identify the carver and gilder with John Sotheby (1740-1807), bookseller and auctioneer, trading from 1778, despite the coincidence between the date of the last known advertisement of John Sotheby, carver and gilder, on 17 January 1778, and the first recorded advertisement for John Sotheby, bookseller and auctioneer in the partnership, Leigh and Sotheby, on 22 July 1778.
For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
**Henry Spencer 1848-1875, Henry Spencer & Son 1876-1890, Henry Spencer 1891-1897. At 2 Cook's Terrace, Pancras Old Road, London 1848-1849, 22 Queen's Row, Pentonville 1850-1857, renamed and numbered 1857, 93 Pentonville Road 1857-1897. Carvers and gilders, picture frame manufacturers, later also picture dealers and picture cleaners.
There were two generations of the family involved in this Pentonville picture frame making business, as we learn from successive censuses, Henry Spencer (c.1822-1900?), who was born in Walthamstow, and his son Harry Spencer (b.1848?), whom he took into partnership by 1876. In 1851 Henry Spencer was employing one apprentice, in 1861 a man and three boys, apparently also trading as a stationer and tobacconist, in 1871 his son Harry, age 22, was listed as a framemaker, and two daughters were recorded as gilders, Elizabeth and Lucy, ages 24 and 16. The father was last recorded in 1891 as a picture dealer, when he was 69. The son, Harry, was listed in the 1881 census as a carver and gilder, in 1891 as picture framemaker, age 44, by now married with a wife Charlotte and three young daughters, and in 1901 as picture framemaker (worker), indicating that he was no longer trading independently.
Henry Spencer's label, on the reverse of the turned mahogany frame on Thomas Woolner's plaster tondo portrait of an unknown man of 1856 (private coll., information from Osmund Bullock, July 2009), advertises his services from 93 Pentonville Road as carver and gilder, looking glass and picture frame manufacturer, offering 'Imitation Carved Oak Frames made to any design', and to regild old frames and to supply country dealers and the trade. The business advertised in 1875 as carvers, gilders and picture frame manufacturers, also offering to clean, line and restore pictures (The Artists' Directory 1875, p.196).
*H.J. Spiller 1902-1959, H.J. Spiller Ltd 1960-1989. At 55 Beak St, Regent St, London W1 1902-1909, 37 Beak St 1910-1989. Picture framemaker and antique frame dealer.
The picture framemaker, Henry James Spiller (b.1862), was listed in the 1901 census as a picture framemaker, age 38, living in Wandsworth. In 1910 he moved to premises at 37 Beak St which had once been occupied by W. & P. Evans (qv) and he was listed at this address in the 1911 census as a picture framemaker and employer, age 48, born Soho, with wife and son Henry James Alfred, age 20, also a picture framemaker, and another son, Lawrence, age 8. It would appear that it was his son, Henry James Alfred Spiller (1890-1966), who continued the business. He subsequently specialised in antique frames, becoming a frequent purchaser of paintings at auction, which he acquired for their frames (Simon 1996 p.25). A part of his business was hiring out frames to furnish film sets. Henry James Spiller's estate as a picture framemaker and art dealer was worth £74,475 (The Times 17 December 1966). Other members of the Spiller family traded as picture framemakers in the later 19th and early 20th century.
For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
Charles Squire, 22 Lisle St, Soho, London 1843, 38 Lisle St 1844-1850. Carver and gilder, picture framemaker.
Little is known about Charles Squire beyond his court appearances for debt in 1851 and 1852 (London Gazette 15 July 1851), when described as formerly of 8 Carnaby St, then of 22 Lisle St, at the same time of 60 St Martin's Lane, and late of 28 Old Fish St (London Gazette 31 August 1852). It remains to be established whether there is a link between him and Henry Squire & Co, trading as a carver and gilder at 20 Old Fish St in the City from 1851, also trading as a manufacturer of shopwindow and display fittings by 1860.
Charles Squire produced frames for two portraits for the Duke of Wellington, Doge Marcantonio Memmo, ascribed to Leandro Bassano, and ‘Catarina Cornaro', both impressed 'SQUIRE MANUFACTURER LISLE STREET LONDON' (Jervis 1982 p.19). A pair of anonymous pastels, 8th Baron Kinnaird and his brother, Douglas Kinnaird, are labelled, 'Henry Squire, Wholesale Frame Manufacturer in plain and ornamental gilt, grained oak and every style of fancy wood. 20, Old Fish Street, Doctors' Commons, London' (private coll., exh. Mad, Bad and Dangerous: The Cult of Lord Byron, National Portrait Gallery, 2002).
For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.
*R.J. Stannard, 30 Great Russell St, London WC 1880-1903, 72 Wells St, Oxford St 1903-1908. Picture frame manufacturer.
Robert John Stannard (1854-1907) was born in Hoxton and was recorded there in the 1871 census with his father, Robert Stannard senr, who had been born in Norwich, where several members of the Stannard family were active as artists (Moore 1985 pp.95-108). Robert Stannard senr appears to be the individual who traded as a picture framemaker with William Stannard, relationship unknown, at 4 Middle Row, Holborn, until the partnership was dissolved in 1861 (London Gazette 12 April 1861). A subsequent partnership at the same address between William Stannard and William Stannard junr was dissolved in 1862 (London Gazette 9 January 1863). William Stannard was made bankrupt in 1863 (London Gazette 31 March 1863).
Robert John Stannard was listed in 1880 at 30 Great Russell St as picture framemaker, carver & gilder & mount cutter, wholesale and retail. He appears in censuses, in 1881 as a fine art dealer, age 26, living at 1 Albert St, with his picture frame making father, Robert, age 58, and brother William, age 24, in 1891 as a gilder, living at 12 Studland St, Hammersmith, and in 1901 at 30 Great Russell St. He died in the Paddington registration district in 1907.
Stannard's trade label described him as 'Picture Frame Manufacturer, Carver, Gilder & Mount Cutter', giving his address in Great Russell St as 'Nearly opposite the British Museum'; examples can be found on John Longstaff's Ada Garrick, 1895, and Rupert Bunny's Madam Melba, 1902 (both National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, see Payne 2007 pp.150-3), Charles Gogin's Samuel Butler, 1896, and W.C. Wontner's Frederic Myers, c.1896 (both National Portrait Gallery). He was also responsible for the bold undercut scrolling foliage frame on Alfred Edward Emslie's A Sonata of Beethoven, 1903 or before (Guildhall Art Gallery).
*Stewart & Brown, 15 Little Guildford St, Brunswick Square, London 1857, 56 Eagle St, Red Lion Square, Holborn 1858-1879, 261 High Holborn 1870-1874, 55 Eagle St 1876-1941, 7 Red Lion Square WC1 1942-1947. Picture frame manufacturers, carvers and gilders.
The business advertised that it had been established in 1847 (The Year's Art 1904). The partnership between William Stewart (b. c.1825) and Thomas Harvey Brown (c.1826-1897), carvers and gilders at 55 Eagle St, trading as Stewart & Brown, was dissolved in 1889 (London Gazette 12 July 1889). William Stewart, born in Scotland, appears in successive censuses, usually as a gilder, in 1861 living at 13 Goldington St, Somers Town, from 1871 to 1891 at 10 Crescent Place, Tottenham Court Road, in 1881, age 55, employing 20 men and two boys, with two sons listed as gilders, William, age 28, and Frederick, age 23. In the 1881 census Thomas H. Brown, age 54, born Bloomsbury, was listed as a picture framemaker at 17 Compton St, Bloomsbury, with four sons, Thomas, Henry, Alfred and Walter in related trades.
In 1904 the business advertised ‘Frames and Mirrors, in Carved Wood or Composition, made to any Design. Re-gilding in French and English Styles' (The Year's Art 1904). In 1936, the business was also offering picture cleaning.
Little is known of the work of this long-established enterprise. In summer 1873, Charles Howell, the dealer, tried to persuade Ford Madox Brown to have his small oil painting, View from Shorn Ridgway (National Museum of Wales, Cardiff), framed by Stewart & Brown, rather than by Foord & Dickinson (qv), to whom it had been sent and who were taking a long time over it (see Mary Bennett, Ford Madox Brown: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press, forthcoming, information from Lynn Roberts). Subsequently in 1879, Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote to Brown complaining, 'I lately had a lot of frames of the slighter kind made by Stewart & Brown, with whom I believe you have dealt a good deal & who are supposed to be cheap. I now get their bill which seems higher than Foord and Dickinson's'. Rossetti referred to Stewart & Brown's charge of £3.10s for framing Marie Stillman's Fiametta, 1879 (private coll.) and complained that he had been charged £7.9s for the frame of a chalk drawing not much larger than Stillman's (Fredeman, letter 79.35, information from Lynn Roberts).
