Collection Online
The Virgin and Child with the young St John the Baptist

The Virgin and Child with the young St John the Baptist
(La Vierge et l'Enfant avec le jeune saint Jean-Baptiste)
(c. 1897)

Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
91.1 × 68.2 cm
Place/s of Execution
Paris, France
Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.c.: after (...illeg.) / by J. QUINN.
Accession Number
31-2
Department
Australian Painting
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented by the artist under the terms of the National Gallery of Victoria Travelling Scholarship, 1897
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Gallery location
Not on display
Subjects (general)
Another Work Human Figures Religion and Mythology
Subjects (specific)
Blessed Virgin Mary (Christian character) infants Jesus Christ (Christian character) John the Baptist, Saint (Abrahamic religion iconography) Madonna and Child (Christian theme) mothers paintings (visual works) reproduction (copying)
Frame
Original, by John Thallon, Melbourne

Frame

This frame can be compared with the Watts frame, made by W. A. Smith, London, on Watts’ Alfred Tennyson,(p.312.9-1) which entered the collection in 1888. This Thallon frame might be modelled on the Smith frame. Though the basic form of both frames is similar, the ornament differs. A more fundamental difference in the frames is the construction of the corners. The flat of the Smith frame joins in the vertical along with the veneer, a common form for this style of frame. The Thallon frame runs the veneer over a mitred chassis: the look is correct, the construction flawed. In a number of Watts frames made by the Sydney framer Callan, both the veneer and the underlying timber of the flat are joined with a mitred corner.

Note

1 Hilary Maddocks, ‘Picture Framemakers in Melbourne c. 1860–1930’ in Vol. 1, Frames, Melbourne Journal of Technical Studies in Art, University of Melbourne Conservation Service, 1999.

Framemaker
John Thallon
Melbourne
Date
18971
Materials

The frame is made from cast plaster decorative elements on a wooden chassis. The veneer on the flat is joined along the vertical line at the corners, rather than following the mitred corner of the underlying flat. With shrinkage of the chassis at the corner, the veneer has been put under considerable stress, resulting in cracking and buckling. The surface of the flat is gold leaf on oak veneer. The outer frame is oil gilded.

Condition

In good original condition and retains original surfaces throughout.

Dimensions
124.7 x 114.0 x 9.0 cm; sight 90.0 x 60.2 cm