|
Framing Turner's watercolours
The watercolours in the BG Windus collection were framed in a style of which JMW Turner approved. Thus the painting of these watercolours in The Library in Tottenham, the seat of B. G. Windus, Esq by John Scarlett Davis was also framed in that style, enriched with moulded composition ornament.
The B.G. Windus’s collection of Turner watercolours had uniform swept Louis XV-style settings with projecting corners... Interestingly, although Windus did not generally buy paintings directly from the artist, the hang in his library is remarkably similar to that in Turner’s gallery, even to the pictures propped at a slant on chairs. Notes from The Frame Blog The 'uniform swept Louis XV-style settings with projecting corners' were favoured by Turner throughout the 1830s |
The Library at Tottenham in storage © Noel Treacy taken Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum
|
|
Alnwick Castle The watercolour, Alnwick Castle, c.1829 painted by JMW Turner for the series Picturesque Views of England and Wales is now in the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide. The painting features in John Scarlett Davis’ 1835 watercolour of B.G. Windus’ library, leaning on a red chair next to the right-hand door. The frame, based on the original frame as seen in John Scarlett Davis’ watercolour, was obtained by the Gallery from John Davies Framing, London in 1996. However, its ornament is carved, unlike the moulded and applied composition of Turner's nineteenth century frames. Art Gallery of South Australia |
Alnwick Castle, JMW Turner c.1829. Image courtesy Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
|
Agnew frame of the type which was made for Lowestoffe, Suffolk by JMW Turner © Noel Treacy taken Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum
|
Lowestoffe, Suffolk by JMW Turner © Noel Treacy taken Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum
|
Some of the watercolours in the collection, such as Lowestoffe, Suffolk, part of the Lloyd Bequest in the British Museum, were later placed in frames with inbuilt blinds to protect the delicate watercolours from damaging sunlight. The pull for the blind can be seen in the frame above.
The Lloyd Collection in the British Museum – tend to have uniform settings and mounts chosen by the purchaser, often, as in this case, produced c.1912 by the firm of Agnew, which seems automatically to have reframed many of the Turners which have passed through its hands. Watercolour frames with inbuilt blinds, ... which have been described as Ruskin’s, were almost certainly also produced by Agnew’s, possibly in the late 19th, but more probably in the early 20th century.
Notes from The Frame Blog
The Lloyd Collection in the British Museum – tend to have uniform settings and mounts chosen by the purchaser, often, as in this case, produced c.1912 by the firm of Agnew, which seems automatically to have reframed many of the Turners which have passed through its hands. Watercolour frames with inbuilt blinds, ... which have been described as Ruskin’s, were almost certainly also produced by Agnew’s, possibly in the late 19th, but more probably in the early 20th century.
Notes from The Frame Blog
Examing the Turner watercolours at the British Museum © Noel Treacy
Thanks to Gerry Alabone for additional notes.
Thank you also to Angela, Chris and Enrico in the Print Room for their help and patience.
To see the framing of the JMW Turner tondo oil paintings in the Windus collection click here
© COPYRIGHT 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
|
|