British Canvas, Stretcher and Panel Suppliers' Marks. Part 7, Reeves & Sons
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British canvas, stretcher and panel suppliers’ marks. Part 7, Reeves & Sons This resource surveys suppliers’ marks on the reverse of picture supports. This part is devoted to Reeves, a business founded by Thomas Reeves and his brother, William, in about 1780 and which went through several partnerships before becoming Reeves & Sons in 1830, when Thomas Reeves took his sons into partnership, and Reeves & Sons Ltd in 1890. The business was a significant supplier of canvas from the 1830s until the 1940s. For further information, see British artists' suppliers, 1650-1950 - R on this website. Measurements of marks, given where known, are approximate and may vary according to the stretching or later conservation treatment of a canvas or the trimming of a label. Links are given to institutional websites where dimensions of works can be found. Dates for partnerships and addresses are usually accurate to within a year. Square brackets are used to indicate indistinct or missing lettering in transcripts, with readings sometimes based on other examples. Compiled by Jacob Simon, September 2017, updated February 2020, and based on the pioneering work of Cathy Proudlove and the suppliers’ database created by Jacob Simon. With thanks to Dr Joyce Townsend for providing information on paintings in Tate and to John Payne, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Arranged in five numbered sections according to address and business designation, with two appendices. Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale) 1. Reeves & Sons at 150 Cheapside, 1830-45 Move to 113 Cheapside in 1845 Illustrated: Stencil on canvas: Alvan Fisher, unspecified work, possibly Autumnal REEVES & SONS Landscape with Indians, Prepared 1848 (ex-Corcoran ARTISTS CANVAS. Gallery of Art, see Katlan 150 Cheapside 1987 p.277), source: LONDON Cathy Proudlove, see note 2) Illustrated: Stencil, broken linear border with inset corners, Source: The Archives of on canvas: Alexander Katlan, now housed in the Winterthur REEVES & SONS Museum and Libraries. Prepared Repr. from A.W. Katlan, ARTISTS CANVAS. American Artists’ Materials. 150 Cheapside Vol. II, A Guide to LONDON Stretchers, Panels, Millboards, and Stencil [very similar to preceding stencil but with border] Marks, 1992, p.462. Illustrated: Stencil, partly obscured, broken linear border Cornelius Krieghoff, with inset corners, on canvas: unspecified work, source: Cathy Proudlove, see [REEV]ES & SONS note 2. [PR]EPARED [ARTIS]TS CANVAS [---] Cheapside [L]ONDON Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale) Illustrated: Label, 16.2 cm wide, on mahogany panel: Alfred Stannard, Seascape (Norwich REEVES & SONS’ Castle Museum and Art COLLAPSIBLE Gallery) AIR-TIGHT METALLIC COLOUR TUBES -------------- A new invention for containing Oil Colours, which supersedes Bladders,/ and prevents all waste, dirtiness, and smell, and will preserve the Colour any/ length of time in any climate.* --------------- DIRECTIONS FOR USE Unscrew the Cap, and press the opposite end ^ whole quite flat, as you use the Colour, which keeps the Tube full,/ and prevents waste; by which means the quantity required may be extracted. -------------- SOLD BY REEVES & SONS, COLOURMEN TO ARTISTS,/ 150, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. [c.1842-45; Reeves will not have stocked tube colours before 1842] ^ detail 2. Reeves & Sons at 113 Cheapside, 1845- See section 4 for Reeves & Sons Ltd from 1890, canvas marks 1890 Illustrated: Stencil, oval format, on canvas: Francisco José Resende, Cena de Costumes REEVES & SONS. Pitoresca, 1860 (PNP) — Manufacturers. – 113 – CHEAPSIDE London Illustrated: Stencil, oval format, 12.2 cm wide, on canvas: John Frederick Herring, Horses and Pigs, c.1864 REEVES & SONS. (National Gallery of — Victoria, Melbourne) Manufacturers. Click for a larger image of – 113 – stencil. CHEAPSIDE London [‘M’ of Manufacturers further to left] Illustrated: Stamp, 9.2 cm wide, on canvas (also used on Attrib. John Frederick board): Herring Junior, Farmyard Scene, c.1870? (Tate) REEVES & SONS, MANUFACTURERS, Also found on: 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. Maud Earl, Pugs, board, 1888 (Sotheby's Belgravia, [sans serif typeface; used on smaller pictures, 25 March 1975, lot 172) 1881-90, source: Cobbe coll., see note 2] Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale) Illustrated: Stamp on canvas: Unidentified portrait (Belmont, Lyme Regis, REEVES & SONS, 2016) Manufacturers 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. Illustrated: Stamp, 15.7 cm wide, on canvas: Unspecified work, 1871, source: Cobbe coll., see REEVES & SONS, note 2. Manufacturers 113. CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. Also found on: John Jones, Cockenzie [middle line longer] Harbour on the Firth of Forth, 1877 (Sotheby’s Belgravia, 20 July 1976, lot 35) Illustrated: Stamp, 14.2 cm wide, on canvas: John Lavery, A Girl in a Black Hat, 1887 REEVES & SONS, (Sotheby’s Belgravia, Manufacturers, Edinburgh sale, 25 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON February 1975, lot 301) [lettering more upright] Illustrated: Stamp, 14.3 cm wide, on canvas: Tom Roberts, The Artists' Camp, 1886 (National REEVES & SONS, Gallery of Victoria, MANUFACTURERS, Melbourne). Click for a [1]13, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. larger image of stencil. [middle line in capitals] Also found on: Arthur Streeton, The River, . 1896 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne) Click for an image of stamp. For examples, 1886-96, see note 4 3. Reeves & Sons at 113 Cheapside, 1845- Trading as Reeves & Sons Ltd from 1890 1890, labels Illustrated: Label, decorative border, centre of millboard: Unknown artist, Portrait of a Dog, 1845 (CJM Asset REEVES & SONS’ Management, PREPARED MILLBOARDS Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, for Artists. 4 June 2015, lot 1007, 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. online) in ink bottom right: John B. Banham,/ Gillingham Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale) Illustrated: Label, decorative border, on panel: Eugène von Guérard, Mount William and part of REEVES & SONS, the Grampians in West [greyhound crest] Victoria, 1865 (National ARTISTS' COLOURMEN, Gallery of Victoria, MANUFACTURERS OF DRAWING PENCILS Melbourne) FROM BROCKEDON'S PURE CUMBERLAND LEAD, Click for a larger image of Wholesale Stationers, &c. label. 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON, E.C. [the spotted greyhound crest derives from the Reeves family crest] Illustrated: Label, 9.7 cm wide, on board: Edwin Boddington, Near Henley-on-Thames or REEVES & SONS Near Burnham Beeches, [greyhound crest] both 1868 (Sotheby’s ARTISTS' COLOUR MANUFACTURERS, Belgravia, 30 June 1976, PURE CUMBERLAND LEAD PENCIL, & lot 105), the label Mathematical Drawing Instrument Makers, apparently split in two. 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON, E.C., WHERE MAY BE HAD EVERY ARTICLE CONNECTED WITH DRAWING, PAINTING, AND THE FINE ARTS. Illustrated: Label, 9.1 cm wide, on board: Walter Hugh Paton, A Beached Fishing Boat [REE]VES & SONS, (Sotheby’s Belgravia, 8 [greyhound crest] April 1975, lot 74) ARTISTS' COLOURMEN. Lead Pencil & Mathematical Instrument Makers, MANUFACTURERS AND IMPORTERS OF EVERY ARTICLE [?] CONNECTED WITH DRAWING, PAINTING AND ^ best image available THE FINE ARTS [?] 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON, E.C. [1857 or later, given use of postal district, E.C., in address] 4. Reeves & Sons Ltd, 1890-1976, canvas In 1896 canvases began to be designated marks by letter according to type, on the evidence of individual paintings and Reeves’ 1896 catalogue Illustrated: Stamp, 14.5 cm wide, on canvas: Edward Waite, unspecified painting, REEVES & SONS, LTD 1891, source: Cobbe MANUFACTURERS coll., see note 2. 113 CHEAPSIDE, LONDON [LTD apparently an addition, perhaps when the business became a limited company in 1890; the stamp otherwise similar to that in section 2, Tom Roberts, above, but CHEAPSIDE and LONDON closer together] Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale) Illustrated: Stamp, oval border, 10.1 cm wide, on canvas: Edwin Steele, Still Life of Flowers, 1893 (Sotheby’s REEVES & SONS Belgravia, 6 January LIMITED 1976, lot 174) ARTISTS' [greyhound in circle] CANVAS LONDON Found on works, 1892-93, source: Cobbe coll., see [Reeves adopted a new format for canvas note 2. stamps soon after the business became a limited company in 1890. The example illustrated here set the pattern for the next 45 years. It comes in a number of forms.] Illustrated: Stamp, oval border, on canvas: Aby Altson, Meditation, 1896 (National Gallery of REEVES & SONS Victoria, Melbourne) LIMITED Click for a larger image of ARTISTS' [greyhound in circle] CANVAS stencil. LONDON [slightly different to above; e.g. ‘L’ of LIMITED sits beneath ‘E’ of REEVES; larger central design] Illustrated: Stamp, oval border, 11.0 cm wide, on canvas: Herbert Draper, The Lament for Icarus, exh. REEVES & SONS 1898 (Tate) LIMITED PREPARED [greyhound in circle] CANVAS Also found on: LONDON John Lavery, Sir Lionel Cust, 1912, board (National Stamp: C Portrait Gallery) [PREPARED, rather than ARTISTS’ canvas; This format found on works, larger central design] 1898-1916, source: Cobbe coll., see note 2. [‘C’ was an all flax canvas, described in Reeves’ 1912 catalogue as ‘fine grain’] Illustrated: Stamp, oval border, 9.8 cm wide, on canvas: Charles Kerr, Myself, exh. 1899 (Tate) REEVES & SONS LIMIT[ED] Stamp slightly smaller than PREPARED [greyhound in circle] CANVAS the preceding one on the LONDON picture by Herbert Draper. Stamp: D [‘D’ was one of the most expensive canvases in Reeves’ c.1899-1900 catalogue] Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale) Illustrated: Stamp, oval border, 10.7 cm wide, on canvas: Arthur Streeton, Arkwright’s