Fishing boats leaving Boulogne Harbour
(c. 1875)

• Theodor WEBER

Essentially neo-classical in form, the frame carries an empire-style element in the interlaced pattern of the fluting in the scotia. The sections that make up the frame are likely to have come from a trade catalogue and been cut to length. Frame profiles like this one are abundant in trade catalogues and the method of construction suggests the source of the moulding. The frame is likely to have been put on the painting at the time of purchase, suggesting the painting was acquired through London. It is more common for NGV paintings painted in Europe to carry frames of European manufacture.

The basic form of the frame is a wooden profile, mitred at the corners. The mitres are covered on the face with leaf work and re-enforced on the reverse with blocks glued across the mitres. The torus, of imbricated laurel and berry, is notable for the extended stems on the leaves, giving a vine-like appearance to the border. The torus is not centred. Each frame member has been cut from a long length and then joined to form this frame. The decorative work of the inner scotia is pressed composition. These sections are oil gilded. The two taenia and the small cavetto near the torus are burnished on a dark grey bole, as are the straps at each corner of the torus. The slip is matt water gilded with a high degree of finish. The joins in the leaves are barely visible. There is a small, sanded flat near the sight edge to the slip.

Good original condition; retains original articulation of gilded surfaces. The composition of the torus is cracked and there are small losses in the sections of ornament.