DOI Heft:
No. 309 (December 1918)
DOI Artikel:Vallance, Aymer: The paintings of Reginald Frampton, R.O.I
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24600#0078
The Paintings of Reginald Frampton, R.O.I.
and the English Pre-Raphaelite School, and line and drawing. Mr. Frampton's St. Brendan
also by the productions of Puvis de Chavannes. was exhibited at the final exhibition of the New
But there is, happily, no trace in his work of Gallery, and was awarded mention honorable at
the sexless wraiths of Angelico on the one the Paris Salon ; and might have been acquired
hand, nor of the coarse physical type with permanently for the Dublin Gallery had not
its thick wrists and ankles, ponderous feet and those in the position of authority to select
hands, affected by de Chavannes, the very unfortunately ignored its very existence.
" French Burne-Jones," on the other. Another work of the artist's, slightly more
A notable feature of much of the artist's brilliant in colour-scheme than the last-named,
painting is the almost total absence of high portrays the Holy Grail being conveyed overseas
lights and cast shadows. Such a mode of to Smyrna by Sir Galahad and his companions
treatment, in the hands of a less capable in a boat. This, too, was exhibited at the
draughtsman, might well produce a painful Paris Salon.
impression of feebleness or lack of definition. With the Voyage of the Holy Grail may be
Not so, however, in the case of Mr. Frampton. compared another sea subject, in which the
With him, indeed, this diffused illumination is infant Perseus, in the lap of his mother, Danae,
a matter of deliberate purpose. He adopts a is depicted afloat in the coffer. Behind Danae's
subdued tone from a sense of decorative fitness, head is a wind-blown cloak of red, while the
his aim being to ensure the flat effect and the coffer itself is half hidden by mauve draperies,
subordination proper to mural backgrounds, as The rest of the composition is in soft tertiary
distinct from the meretricious illusion of pro- tones,
minent relief and receding
distances, which disquali-
fies the average easel-
picture from a place in
any broad architectonic
scheme. Mr. Frampton's
compositions, on the con-
trary, are instinct with a
restful and dignified seren-
ity, no less satisfying than
transcendental.
As typical of this phase
of his work may be men-
tioned a large panel de-
picting a scene from the
legend of St. Brendan.
The incident is one with
which all readers of Mat-
thew Arnold's poems must
be familiar —to wit, St.
Brendan encountering
Judas Iscariot on the ice-
berg. The quality of this
picture recalls a forgotten
chef- d'ceuvre of Spencer
Stanhope's, viz. The Waters
of Lethe. The twilight atmo-
sphere is the same in both
cases, but there is this dif-
ference, that Mr. Frampton
surpasses the deceased art-
ist in technical mastery of "echo" oil painting by Reginald frampton, r.o.i.
68
and the English Pre-Raphaelite School, and line and drawing. Mr. Frampton's St. Brendan
also by the productions of Puvis de Chavannes. was exhibited at the final exhibition of the New
But there is, happily, no trace in his work of Gallery, and was awarded mention honorable at
the sexless wraiths of Angelico on the one the Paris Salon ; and might have been acquired
hand, nor of the coarse physical type with permanently for the Dublin Gallery had not
its thick wrists and ankles, ponderous feet and those in the position of authority to select
hands, affected by de Chavannes, the very unfortunately ignored its very existence.
" French Burne-Jones," on the other. Another work of the artist's, slightly more
A notable feature of much of the artist's brilliant in colour-scheme than the last-named,
painting is the almost total absence of high portrays the Holy Grail being conveyed overseas
lights and cast shadows. Such a mode of to Smyrna by Sir Galahad and his companions
treatment, in the hands of a less capable in a boat. This, too, was exhibited at the
draughtsman, might well produce a painful Paris Salon.
impression of feebleness or lack of definition. With the Voyage of the Holy Grail may be
Not so, however, in the case of Mr. Frampton. compared another sea subject, in which the
With him, indeed, this diffused illumination is infant Perseus, in the lap of his mother, Danae,
a matter of deliberate purpose. He adopts a is depicted afloat in the coffer. Behind Danae's
subdued tone from a sense of decorative fitness, head is a wind-blown cloak of red, while the
his aim being to ensure the flat effect and the coffer itself is half hidden by mauve draperies,
subordination proper to mural backgrounds, as The rest of the composition is in soft tertiary
distinct from the meretricious illusion of pro- tones,
minent relief and receding
distances, which disquali-
fies the average easel-
picture from a place in
any broad architectonic
scheme. Mr. Frampton's
compositions, on the con-
trary, are instinct with a
restful and dignified seren-
ity, no less satisfying than
transcendental.
As typical of this phase
of his work may be men-
tioned a large panel de-
picting a scene from the
legend of St. Brendan.
The incident is one with
which all readers of Mat-
thew Arnold's poems must
be familiar —to wit, St.
Brendan encountering
Judas Iscariot on the ice-
berg. The quality of this
picture recalls a forgotten
chef- d'ceuvre of Spencer
Stanhope's, viz. The Waters
of Lethe. The twilight atmo-
sphere is the same in both
cases, but there is this dif-
ference, that Mr. Frampton
surpasses the deceased art-
ist in technical mastery of "echo" oil painting by Reginald frampton, r.o.i.
68