The standard-bearer
(Der Bannertrager)
(c. 1882)

Carl SEILER

Medium: oil on wood panel
Measurements: 38.4 × 25.9 cm
Place/s of Execution: Germany
Inscription: inscribed in black paint l.r.: C. Seiler. (underlined)
Accession Number: p.310.5-1
Department: International Painting
Credit Line: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1884
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Gallery location: 19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
Subjects (general): Ceremonial and Funerary Human Figures
Subjects (specific): columns (architectural elements) elderly flags men (male humans) moustaches plumes (ornaments) sashes (costume accessories) standard-bearers
Provenance: With French Gallery (dealer), London, c. 1876–1884; brought by Henry Wallis, French Gallery proprietor, to Melbourne for exhibition, 1884; from where purchased for the NGV, 1884.

Frame

To date the only example in the collection of inlaid wood used as a decorative technique for a frame. The frame uses two different tones of gold to create a running leaf pattern on the flat. The pattern is formed within lines incised into the gesso and is continuous around the corners, centred at the top and bottom. The inlaid wood section, also matched at the corners, uses thick mahogany and rosewood veneers to create the pattern.
Both the form and the structure of the frame are unusual. The depth of the outer edge relative to the overall width gives the frame a solid, box-like appearance.
The painting is housed mid-way through the section giving the frame a relatively flat relationship to the picture plane.
Framemaker: Cole Bros.

2 Percy Street, Rathbone Place, London
Date: c.1882
Materials: timber base, gold leaf, wooden inlay, composition
Condition: original condition with some losses to the surface
Dimensions: over all 63 x 51 x 7.5 cm sight size 37.5 x 25.5cm