The ford
1883-1912

• Edward Arthur WALTON

This Empire-style fluted scotia frame² is an example of the use of an elaborately detailed frame for presenting a watercolour, the sort of frame we more commonly associate with oil paintings. Interestingly, it runs right to the sight edge with pattern work, rather than using a conventional slip to meet the edge of the image. It is more common to find works on paper presented with wide gilded flats or the conventional slip of a frame for an oil painting separating the image and the border formed by the frame. The profile is nevertheless tall, with a steep inclination of the fluted scotia, giving the frame a box-like form and sitting the picture plane of the watercolour back against the wall. The watercolour itself is stretched over a blind stretcher.

Notes

1 Though the painting remains undated, it is likely the frame dates to after Walton settled in Edinburgh in 1904. (www.nationalgalleries.org/collections/artist)

Aitken Dott were at 26 Castle Street from 1901, possibly as early as 1887. (www.npg.org.uk/live/artistsupp_d.asp)

2 Paul Mitchell & Lynn Roberts, A History of European Picture Frames, Merrell Holberton, London, 1996, p. 67. The profile and decorative work reflect a type of English frame from the first decades of the nineteenth century.

The frame is constructed from three primary wooden profiles, extensively ornamented with composition work to form a rendering of an Empire-style frame. The chassis is mitred at the corners with a low relief acanthus leaf covering the mitres of the scotia. The surface appears to be water gilded on a red bole.

The surface appears to be original, though worn and showing distress from a deteriorated surface coating of size.