English 1854—1931
1883
In the summer of 1883, Thomas and Caroline Gotch stayed at Newlyn, on the Cornish coast. While Mrs Gotch recovered from the birth of the couple’s daughter, their only child, Phyllis, Thomas indulged in his love of painting out of doors. Mental arithmetic, in which an elderly fisherman quizzes the young girl who has brought him a cup of tea, is strongly influenced by the plein air naturalism of Jules Bastien-Lepage, whose style Gotch had absorbed while studying art in Paris. Newlyn became a key centre of plein air painting in England.
Collection of the artist's cousin, John Speechly Gotch Esq (1829–1901), Melbourne, 1883; by whom donated to the NGV, 1884.
In the summer of 1883, Thomas and Caroline Gotch stayed at Newlyn, on the Cornish coast. While Caroline Gotch recovered from the birth of the couple’s daughter, Phyllis, Thomas was free to indulge in his love of painting out of doors. Mental arithmetic, in which an elderly fisherman quizzes the young girl who has brought him a cup of tea, is strongly influenced by the plein-air naturalism of Jules Bastien-Lepage, whose style Gotch had absorbed while studying art in Paris. Works such as this encapsulated some of the concerns of the artists of the Newlyn school, whose paintings investigated the effects of different light conditions upon the mood of a composition, and explored the possibilities presented by local narrative subjects. The Gotches travelled to Australia in late 1883, and from January to March 1884 were in Melbourne, where Thomas Gotch organized an exhibition of his work. Mental arithmetic was probably brought to Australia at this time. The artist’s cousin, the prominent Melbourne businessman J. S. Gotch, presented the painting to Melbourne’s Committee of Fine Arts on 22 March 1884, noting:
Having heard that the Committee appreciate and are anxious to secure the painting ‘Mental Arithmetic’ for the Public Gallery, but are hindered by want of funds, I have pleasure in saying that the above picture is now my property … I shall be pleased to present it to them for the public good.
In 1905 a Mrs Gotch proposed to the National Gallery Committee that the painting’s somewhat puzzling title be helped by the addition of the words ‘A herring and a half for three ha’pence. How many for a shilling?’. Her suggestion was not acted upon.
Text by Ted Gott from 19th century painting and sculpture in the international collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2003 p.98
The basic form of this frame is a solid plank of timber, flat across the reverse and bevelled across the face. The corners are mitred and secured with thin splines set into the reverse across the joints. The outer edge carries a run of egg and dart ornament, the inner edge carries a laurel and berry torus. The addition of a broad flat completes the structure. The bevel is enlivened with fine sand. The surface is a mixture of water gilding (slip and taenia) and oil gilding (torus and flat), now overpainted with a heavy, coloured varnish.
The construction of the frame differs sufficiently from local manufacture, for example the similar frames of John Thallon, to suggest this frame is English in origin despite stylistically being from a French source.
Thallon’s frames would be made from a plank of uniform thickness, with timber strips added across the reverse to build the rebate and outer edges, the corners more likely re-enforced with triangular wooden braces.
Gotch trained in London then studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp and Paris in 1881-3.
Though he exhibited at the Royal Academy, it seems unlikely a frame in this form would be an Academy frame.
The frame on Mental Arithmetic is in the manner of frames revived in France after the middle of the C19th. They appear in the background of paintings and photographs of French artists in their studios from the 1860’s onward. It is possible Gotch was aware of these framing styles in Antwerp and Paris in 1881-3.
Gotch visited relatives in Australia in 1883 and this painting was presented to the NGV by the artist’s cousin J.S. Gotch, Melbourne, 1884.
The painting and frame entering the collection in 1884 provides a possible reference point for a wave of frames in this general form that were made in Melbourne by John Thallon from around this date forward.
Framemaker:
Unknown - 19th century
Date:
c.1883
Materials:
Timber, composition and gold leaf
Condition:
resurfaced
Dimensions:
H 194 cm x W 163 cm x D 8.0cm.