The Seine at St Pierre near Louviers: A morning in October
(La Siene à Sainte-Pierre, près Louviers; Matinée d'octobre)
(1891)

• Alexandre NOZAL

This frame is believed to be the one used to present the painting at the Paris Salon of 1891 from which it was purchased by John Longstaff for the NGV. Though the maker remains un-identified it is reasonable to assume the frame was made in Paris.
The frame is built from large scale plaster decorative work applied to a wooden chassis. It takes the form of a cushion frame, using large scale imbricated laurel leaves to form a garland surrounding the image.
The leaf infill panel is oil gilded, the rest of the frame water gilded with burnished strap work, taenia, and the inner and outer coves.
The corners and centres of the reverse are braced with timber and the mitred corners secured with large, wooden cross-splines (inset and held with screws) and tie bolts inserted across the mitres with captured nuts.

This work is representative of the nineteenth century approach to building the collection through the acquisition of paintings contemporary with the date of purchase, either directly from the artist or from the Salon or Academy exhibition.

A very similar form of frame can be found on Emmanuel Phillips Fox, A Love Story, (1903) in the collection of the Ballarat Art Gallery. Dimensions101.8 x 152.7 cm.
If the Fox frame was made in Melbourne it is likely the Nozal frame is the prototype.

timber profile, plaster ornament and gold leaf

good original condition