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The seamstress's reverie

The seamstress's reverie
1887

Medium
oil on wood panel

Measurements
16.6 × 22.3 cm irreg.

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through The Art Foundation of Victoria by Sir Thomas and Lady Travers, Governors, 1985

Gallery location
Not on display

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About this work

From the 1840s onwards the suffering seamstress, made to sew all day and night, appeared as a sympathetic figure in Victorian literature. A symbol of the plight of the working poor, fictional seamstresses were a thinly veiled appeal to middle-class readers to advocate for social reform. Here Loueiro presents us with a more poetic image that aligns meditative sewing with notions of domestic economy.

Artwork Details

Place/s of Execution
Kew, Melbourne, Victoria

Inscription
inscribed in red paint l.l: - ARTHUR LOUREIRO - / 1887
inscribed in red paint on reverse: Studio

Accession Number
A11-1985

Department
Australian Painting

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation

Frame

This fine little frame is a good example of the small-scale use of the classical revival form we more commonly associate with robust frames for larger, domestic-scale pictures. It is nevertheless an imposing frame for the small panel it presents.

Note

1 Hilary Maddocks, ‘Picture Framemakers in Melbourne c. 1860–1930’ in vol. 1, Frames, Melbourne Journal of Technical Studies in Art, University of Melbourne Conservation Service, 1999.

Frame Details

Framemaker
J. & T. Thallon
Melbourne

Date
1882–881

Materials

The frame is constructed from a basic softwood profile, mitred and nailed at the corners. The inner scotia carries small-scale carved fluting. The back edge ornament is composition ribbon and stick. The leading-edge ornament is a composition bead course between thin taeniae. The inner-edge ornament is composition dart. The bulk of the frame appears to have been matte oil-gilded on a pale yellow bole, except for the inner edge taenia, which is burnished on a black bole. The leading-edge taenia may have been similarly burnished. The slip is water gilded. The working edge is painted ochre.

Frame Condition

A good deal of the surface has been over-painted in the past. Some losses occur in the composition elements.

Dimensions

34.8 x 40.5 x 5.0 cm; sight 15.5 x 21.0 cm