Collection Online
The standard-bearer

The standard-bearer
(Der Bannertrager)
(c. 1882)

Medium
oil on wood panel

Measurements
38.4 × 25.9 cm

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1884

Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International

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Artwork Details

Place/s of Execution
Germany

Inscription
inscribed in black paint l.r.: C. Seiler. (underlined)

Accession Number
p.310.5-1

Department
International Painting

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited

Subjects (general)
Ceremonial and Funerary Human Figures

Subjects (specific)
columns (architectural elements) elderly flags men (male humans) moustaches plumes (ornaments) sashes (costume accessories) standard-bearers

Provenance
With French Gallery (dealer), London, c. 1876–1884; brought by Henry Wallis, French Gallery proprietor, to Melbourne for exhibition, 1884; from where purchased for the NGV, 1884.

Frame

To date the only example in the collection of inlaid wood used as a decorative technique for a frame. The frame uses two different tones of gold to create a running leaf pattern on the flat. The pattern is formed within lines incised into the gesso and is continuous around the corners, centred at the top and bottom. The inlaid wood section, also matched at the corners, uses thick mahogany and rosewood veneers to create the pattern.
Both the form and the structure of the frame are unusual. The depth of the outer edge relative to the overall width gives the frame a solid, box-like appearance.
The painting is housed mid-way through the section giving the frame a relatively flat relationship to the picture plane.

Frame Details

Framemaker
Cole Bros.

2 Percy Street, Rathbone Place, London

Date
c.1882

Materials

timber base, gold leaf, wooden inlay, composition

Frame Condition

original condition with some losses to the surface

Dimensions

over all 63 x 51 x 7.5 cm sight size 37.5 x 25.5cm