Dolly, daughter of Hammond Clegg Esq.
(1896)

E. Phillips FOX

Medium: oil on canvas
Measurements: 98.0 × 76.4 cm
Place/s of Execution: Melbourne, Victoria
Inscription: inscribed in green paint l.r.: E Phillips Fox / July (…illeg.)
Accession Number: 2013.966
Department: Australian Painting
Credit Line: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Brian Shaw QC, 2013
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Gallery location: Not on display
About this work: E. Phillips Fox was a favourite portraitist of Melbourne’s wealthy upper middle classes and renowned as an excellent painter of children. Dolly, the eldest daughter of William Hammond Clegg, a successful Toorak stockbroker, was aged around six when this commission was painted. Depicted lost in thought, Dolly is the quintessential picture of angelic Victorian innocence. Fox has taken great care to render the detail of her clothing, showing her ‘best dress’ of pale blue crepôn with a wide lace collar and cream satin sash.
Subjects (general): Portraits
Subjects (specific): children (people by age group) costume (mode of fashion) girls Hammond Clegg, Dolly seated figures

Frame

The frame on Dolly, Daughter of Hammond Clegg Esq. came into the collection with the painting in 2013. It can reasonably be attributed to Melbourne frame maker John Thallon. It uses an imbricated laurel leaf and berry torus as the primary component of the frame with the addition of a slip to provide a housing and clear sight edge for the painting. The torus in centered and banded.
This is a very reduced frame form, leaning heavily to the frame as a garland around the painting.
Frames with this profile are found a number of times in John Thallons ledger from 1888-1903, notably associated with entries for Frederick McCubbin.
Framemaker: John Thallon
Melbourne
Date: c.1896
Materials: timber, composition, gold leaf, metal leaf (patinated)