Reframing Swynnerton

Annie Louisa Swynnerton (née Robinson 1844–1933) studied at the Manchester School of Art before travelling abroad to Paris in 1877, where she studied at the Académie Julian. She carved out a career as an artist at a time when there were many barriers for women working in the profession. In 1883, Annie married sculptor Joseph Swynnerton and spent her time living, working and travelling between England and Italy.

In 2020 the NGV acquired the painting The lady in white, 1878, by Swynnerton, a gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family. The painting arrived in a late twentieth century frame that required replacing. Research revealed Swynnerton’s framing aesthetic and choices to be eclectic, including antique, carved, Pre-Raphaelite and Neoclassical styles. Indeed, among items listed in a 1930s deceased estate auction catalogue for Swynnerton were an array of empty frames – ebonised and tortoiseshell, gilded and composition, and a variety of carved (oak, foliage, shells, scrolls) and gilded frames. After considering various options and seeking information and advice from conservation and curatorial colleagues in Britain, the decision was made to reproduce a ‘Watts’ style frame, named after English artist G. F. Watts, who utilised this style of frame so frequently in the latter half of the nineteenth century that it was named after him.¹Many thanks to Rebecca Milner, Curator of Fine Art, Manchester Art Gallery, and Adrian Moore, Frame Conservator, Tate, for their information and advice. The Watts frame is an excellent choice due to its time-specific relevance, and as a British version of an historic Italian form it resonates with Annie’s strong connection to Italy.

The Watts frame is derived from an early Italian Renaissance style frame called the cassetta. The basic form of the cassetta has a raised profile on inner and outer sections with a flat middle section joining the two. Variations of cassetta frames include the carvings on the raised sections, the decoration on the flat (such as punchwork patterns, painted motifs or veneer) and the surface finish (gilding, timber or paint).

The NGV has three G. F. Watts paintings in Watts frames from around the same time of Swynnerton’s The lady in white. These were used as the basis to reproduce an historically accurate frame for Swynnerton’s painting.

Making the reproduction frame began with examining the original frame on G. F. Watts’s Love and death. This frame is in great original condition and was made by the renowned London frame maker W. A. Smith, who also made frames for G. F. Watts.

The original Watts frame is made up of three sections: the inner frame, the flat and the outer frame. The flat has oak veneer attached onto a pine chassis and butt joined on the vertical. The inner frame has a bell flower ornament running from the centre cross ribbon outwards to the ends. The outer frame has an ornament of an acanthus pattern repeating with small bead and ball positioned in front. Also on the very outside edge is a small, toothed bead. All the ornaments are made of composition, which is a material made of glue, whiting, rosin and linseed oil and when freshly made and warm is malleable. It is then pressed into moulds to create the ornament.

The original frame’s gilded surface is very well preserved. It was produced using a technique known as oil gilding, whereby an oil-based product is thinly brushed on the substrate, left to become tacky and then thin sheets of gold metal (known as gold leaf) applied. On the frame is also a coating of ormolu, which is a glue and shellac mixture applied to matt down the brightness of the gilding when freshly done. All these features and materials were applied to the reproduction frame.

Accurate measurements and drawings were made of the original frame to follow during the woodworking process. Using a dental silicone, impressions were taken of all the ornaments, to be used to create pressing moulds for the reproduction frame.

To make the pressing moulds, a malleable sculpting compound was pressed into the silicone impressions, removed, placed onto a flat surface, reshaped back to its original form, then baked in an oven to harden. Once hardened, a final negative pressing mould was made by creating a small dam around the flattened reshaped ornament, then a casting material was poured in and allowed to set.

The woodworking phase then began. Woodworking machines were used to create lengths of timber to size and width, then a spindle moulder machine was used with a combination of different cutters to create the profiles required for the frame. European oak veneer was thinly cut on a bandsaw, then glued and pressed onto the timber substate to create the middle section. The three sections were then cut and joined, making sure that they all fitted together to form one frame.

The inner and outer sections were prepared for the ornament with the application of a traditional ground layer of glue and whiting. Once dried this white layer was sanded back to create a completely smooth surface. A batch of composition was made, and small amounts were warmed and placed into pressing moulds, pressed, removed and left to dry. Once dry the ornament could then be placed on the frame. Each section of ornament was softened on the underside by placing on a piece of stretched fabric over a steaming bath, which reactivated the glue component, and was then attached into position on the frame. All four ornaments were pressed out and attached all the way around the frame’s sections.

Preparation for gilding began with a yellow-coloured undercoat of shellac, as observed on the original Watts frame. This sealed the surface to allow the gilding oil size to be applied evenly. After the oil size was applied and had reached the correct tack, gilding commenced. Twenty-three carat gold leaf was laid on the sized frame using a gilder’s tip. This wide thin brush was used to carefully pick up the gold leaf, which is 80mm x 80mm square, and gently lay it onto the frame in a uniform manner. Once the gold leaf was laid all over the frame, the gold was carefully tamped down onto the frame using a soft bristled brush, including all the little spaces in and around the ornaments.

As expected, the freshly gilded reproduction frame was incredibly bright. For the frame to be in balance visually with the painting it needed to be toned back to give it an aged look. A coat of dark coloured ormolu, composed of glue and shellac, was brushed on. This reduced the brightness of the gold and also produced an aged appearance. High wearing areas, such as the outside and the top of the highest frame profile, were rubbed back with steel wool and knocked about with various hand tools to replicate years of handling. Finally, rottenstone was sprinkled on to imitate a little dust. The painting was then fitted up in the frame and installed on display.

Much time and effort went into making this historically accurate reproduction frame, to create a fine setting for Swynnerton’s The lady in white, befitting both the artist and the era in which it was made.

Jason King is Frame Maker at NGV.

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