Sunset
Artist
Frederic Edwin Church
(American, 1826 - 1900)
Date1856
MediumOil on canvas, with an original aesthetic style frame
DimensionsFramed: 37 3/4 x 49 3/4 x 3 3/4in. (95.9 x 126.4 x 9.5cm)
Overall: 24 × 36in. (61 × 91.4cm)
Overall: 24 × 36in. (61 × 91.4cm)
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Credit LineProctor Collection
Terms
Object numberPC. 21
DescriptionOn View
On viewCollections
CopyrightNo known copyright restrictions.
Label TextThe handsome, well-made frame, on the Church painting, made up of more than a dozen different decorative elements, and retaining its original finish, was probably made in the 1870s after a design by Church. His habit of designing frames for his own paintings is an important 19th century example of a practice that would become more common with artists in the early decades of the 20th century.
American frames of the post-Civil War era reflect the sophistication of that age. In this example, parallel rows of different-sized beads, moldings and coves create a glittering surface of highlights and shadows that mark the shapes which progress from the outer bead course to the inner sight edge. The features signifying that this frame was designed in the 1870s are the two wide flat planes incised with geometric C-scrolls, stylized leaves and bellflowers. Between these two flat sections is a deep cove decorated with acanthus leaves and more bellflowers on top of a stipple ground. Oil gilding was used on the decorative elements of the cove to create a matt finish. This surface contrasts with the bright gold finish on all the other sections of the frame, which was created with water gilding. Abrasion and wear reveal the gray clay bole that was applied to the frame before it was gilded.
There is an approximately twenty-year difference between the date of the frame and the painting it surrounds. The frame was probably put on the picture shortly before Church exhibited it at the 1879 exhibition of the Utica Art Association, where Helen E. M. Williams purchased it for the reported price of $2,000. Although there is no label on the frame itself, nor any documentary information in Church's personal archive indicating who fashioned this frame, it could have been made by one of the following New York City frame makers, artist material suppliers, or dealers that Church is known to have done business with, all of whom who were active in the late 1870s: the Beers Brothers, John B. Dubois, Theodore Kelley, Michael Knoedler & Co., or William Schaus.(1)
In certain cases, Church designed frames made of forms that were entirely unique. In other instances he merely had the frame assembled from moldings that were commercially available. Although some of the decorative details on this frame can also be found on other frames Church designed, there is no known frame with exactly the same design. One of the advantages of frames embellished with applied composition ornament is that the same forms could be economically reused. Church's use of such mass-produced ornament to create what appears to be a unique frame represents an innovative use of a product that was not intended for use in this fashion.
Note
(1.) Alexander W. Katlan, "American Artists' Materials Suppliers Directory" Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Press, 1987, pp. 16, 330-31.
Paul D. Schweizer
August 2010
