The Romney Frame

English, c.1790 carved and gilded ‘Romney frame’; stopped half lapped pine back frame with mitred mouldings; neo-classical ornament of reeded sight moulding bound by ribbons at the mitres, a plain frieze, pearl, ribbed knull and a rope twist back moulding. Sight size: 29 ¾ x 24 1/8 inches, section width: 4 ¼ inches

Our interest in the frames of George Romney (1734-1802) stems from the remarkable survival of his sitters’ diaries and framers’ notebooks, now held in the libraries of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum. These give a fascinating account of the relationship between the artist and his frame makers Thomas Allwood, Henry Eade and William Saunders during the second half of his career.

George Romney was born in 1734 near Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire. The son of a cabinet maker, he worked in his father’s business from about the age of 10. In 1755 he began training under the portrait painter Christopher Steele and it is during this time that Romney is recorded carving a frame:

Soon after he came to Steele, he was requested by him to carve a frame for a particular portrait which he was then painting. While Mr Romney was privately engaged in this employment, he was accidentally seen by two of the principal inhabitants, who expressed their astonishment that so ingenious a carver should turn painter.
-Memoirs of the Life and Works of George Romney, 1830, written by his son the Revd John Romney.

On his return to London from Italy in 1775, Romney used the services of Thomas Allwood (active 1772-1793), a carver and gilder of 35 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury; ‘Allwood’s Carving Book’ lists 85 portraits framed by him between 1775 and 1781. Allwood also carved and gilded two frames in 1785 for paintings by George Stubbs for Sir John Nelthorpe and four frames in 1779 for portraits by Romney and Reynolds for Paul Methuen of Corsham House.

From 1782 until his retirement, Romney’s frames were made by William Saunders, whose workshop at No.10 Great Castle Street was a short distance from Romney’s studio in Cavendish Square. The early accounts from 1782 were in the name of Eade & Saunders, a partnership which lasted until 1784, after which time the accounts are in Saunders’ name. Eade & Saunders are recorded framing 35 portraits by Romney as well as gilding, carving and copying frames for another local framer, Robert Ansell of Edward Street Cavendish Square.

The frame books record the frames supplied to Romney by the different framers with whom he dealt. The books list by date the sitters, the size of the frame, the cost and occasionally the pattern of the frame, or the nature of the work. In most cases they can be matched with Romney’s sitters book.

‘Allwoods Carving Book’ sometimes gives a brief description of the frames such as ‘a ¾ fluted frame’ (a three-quarters frame was for a canvas size 30 x 25 inches), ‘a ¾ new patn with Reeds and Ribns crossing’ or ‘a ¾ frame with ribnns in the Corners and Middles’. 

The rather severe neo-classical look of these frames with just two or three rows of ornament was probably chosen as much for economy as taste. This is evident when examining the Allwood frame around the ‘leaver’s portrait’ of Viscount Wellesley at Eton College – frame book entry ‘Large ¾ length, 14th March 1780, £2 15s. 6d.’ That Allwood was capable of carving more richly ornamented and expensive frames can be attested by the bill dated 14th February 1793 addressed to the Prince of Wales for eight frames that he supplied for sporting paintings by George Stubbs for Carlton House at a cost of £110 16s.

The account books of William Saunders record that he not only made frames for commissioned portraits but also for ‘Fancy’ and ‘History’ pictures such as Emma Hart as ‘Sensibility’ and The Birth of Shakespeare. He also provided Romney with every day items necessary for a painting studio – ‘a Deal Box for Colours 1s. 6d.’ and ‘A Gallows to Hang a Lay Figure 10s 6d.’, stretchers for paintings, and a regular supply of cases – as well as packing and carriage of paintings and ‘mending’ and ‘fixing’ various items of Romney’s domestic furniture. 

Whilst some patrons chose their own frame maker most let the painter arrange the framing for them as in the case of The Revd Mr R Potter who wrote to Romney on 24th June 1779, ‘I shall certainly be much obliged to you if you will give yourself the trouble to order my portrait to be framed handsomely with all convenient speed’.
For this framing service, Romney received a discount or ‘pay back’ on the business he gave to the framer. In the case of William Saunders this amounted to 10s. on a three quarter, 18s. on a half length and £1 9s. on a whole length. These ‘allowances’, not indicated on the official invoices but on separate slips of paper, amounted to the considerable sum of £57 2s. between 1778 and 1790; on occasion these slips detail ‘the supply at no cost of yellowed frame to shew Pictures’ which would have been sample frames yellow ochred rather than gilded in which Romney displayed his portraits to prospective clients.

Romney offered his clients a limited range of standard neo-classical frames, typical of the day, with two or three rows of ornament that could be varied to some degree. Many of the frames were repeats of patterns previously used, and in Allwood’s accounts are referred to by the sitter’s name thus ‘Mr Bucks patn’, ‘Mr Sullivan’s patn’, ‘Lord Gowers patn’, ‘Capt Beards patn’. Eade & Saunders, however, specify their frame type as being of profiles ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ and sometimes detail the ornament, as in the entry on 17th October 1782 for ‘a ¾ picture frame 3 members carv’d & gilt in Burnish Gold husks beads & Ribbond & Stick at the profile B’.

The term ‘Romney frame’ refers to the pattern made by Saunders in the 1780‘s and is named thus because it is most commonly found around Romney’s paintings. It is less likely that he had a hand in designing the frame himself.

WILLIAM SAUNDERS

Makers label: Saunders, Carver, Gilder and Picture-Frame Maker. No. 10. Great Castle Street, Cavendish Square.

William Saunders is recorded in partnership with Henry Eade in 1782, and from 1784 traded alone from the same address in Great Castle Street. Correspondence between the artist William Blake and the poet William Hayley, George Romney’s first biographer, records that after Romney’s death in 1802, William Saunders assisted in the listing and dispersal of numerous paintings and sketches stored at his workshop.

I have been with Mr Saunders, who now has in his possession all Mr Romney’s pictures that remained after the sale at Hampstead…He has promised to write a list of all that he has in his possession, and of all that he remembers of Mr Romney’s paintings, with notices where they now are, so far as his recollection will serve. The picture of ‘Christ in the Desert’ he supposes to be one of those which he has rolled on large rollers. He will take them down and unroll them, but cannot do it easily, as they are so large as to occupy the whole length of his workshop, and are laid across beams at the top. 
- Letter from William Blake to William Hayley, 26th October 1803

Michael Gregory