Autumn morning, South Yarra
1916

• Frederick McCUBBIN

The painting appeared in this frame on the wall of the drawing room of the Toorak mansion Whernside in 1931.¹ The frame is attributed to Thallon due to the close similarity to frame profiles in Thallon’s ledger entered under McCubbin.² The frame was retrieved from storage and returned to the painting in 1990. It was clearly made to fit the unusual, elongated format of the painting. This is a style of frame preferred by McCubbin but is one of only three original examples left in the collection. It in part derives from the revival of the cassetta form and occurs here as a late working of the theme for an artist with a particular taste in frames. Original frames remaining on McCubbin’s paintings and the entries for them in Thallon’s ledger suggest the use of a limited range of styles by this painter. See also the entry for McCubbin’s A Winter evening (61-2).

Notes

1 The painting appears in an unpublished volume of photographs of the property after renovations in 1931. (Brought to the attention of the author by Geoffrey Smith.)

2 It is possible the frame is one itemised in Thallon’s ledger for 5 September, 1897. The frame has a matching profile and a rebate dimension of 4 ft 6 ins. x 2 ft 7½ ins., close to the dimensions of the painting. If this is the case, the frame has been recycled to the current painting or the painting has been made to fit the frame.

The frame is built from three sections. The outer flat is an oak-veneered timber section, which is simply butt-joined at an angle to the central section of the frame. The central section is a simple timber profile carrying a cast plaster oak leaf torus. The third section is a flat slip. The outer flat appears to be skew-nailed into the central section with the veneer applied over the nails. The surface is oil gilded with false gold throughout.

The frame is in good original condition. Some missing torus section was replaced in 1990 and the frame cleaned overall. The corners are by nature weak and have been re-enforced from the reverse with aluminium plates.