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 Valley, REEVES & SONS Derbyshire, 1911 [LIMITED] (National Gallery of [PREPARED] [greyhound in circle] [CANVAS] Victoria, Melbourne) LONDON Click for a larger image of stamp. Stencil: S
‘Fatter format’ stamp found [‘S’ was the most expensive canvas in Reeves’ on works, 1901-17, source: 1912 catalogue, described as ‘all flax’ and Cobbe coll., see note 2. ‘brown tint’]
Illustrated: Stamp, occurring about every 3 feet (91.5 cm) Richard Jack, Rehearsal along inside of selvedge turnover, on canvas: with Nikisch, 1912 (Tate) 416 REEVES & SONS LD.
[Additionally with letter ‘D’ (not shown here)]
Illustrated: Stamp beneath stretcher bar, on canvas: George Bell, Flower piece, 1926 (National REEVES & SONS LD Gallery of Victoria, MANUFACTURERS Melbourne), with stamp of LONDON, ENGLAND. local supplier, Whitelaw, Melbourne, Australia. [possibly a stamp used for canvas sold Click for a larger image of wholesale or exported rather than retail in the both stamps. home market]
Illustrated: Stamp, circular border, on canvas: Herbert Colborne Oakley, Floral Piece REEVES & SONS LTD (Southampton City Art 161 Gallery)? HIGH St KENSINGTON --
[branch at 161 High St, Kensington 1898-1927]
Illustrated: Stamp, 9.5 cm wide, oval border, on canvas: Reginald Grenville Eves, Thomas Hardy, 1924 REEVES & SONS (Birmingham Museums LIMITED Trust) PREPARED [greyhound in circle] CANVAS LONDON
Stamp: H
Stamp: MADE IN ENGLAND
[LONDON in smaller letters than earlier examples]
[‘H’, fine grain, all flax, see appendix 2]
Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale)
Illustrated: Stamp, oval border, on canvas: Reginald Grenville Eves, Stanley Baldwin, c.1933 REEVES & SONS (National Portrait Gallery) LIMITED [PREPARED] [greyhound in circle] [CANVAS] Stamp very similar to that on LONDON the picture by Arthur Streeton, above. Stamp: C
[‘C’, fine grain, all flax, see appendix 2]
Illustrated: Stamp, oval border, on canvas: James Gunn, 27th Earl of Crawford, 1939 (National REEVES & SONS Portrait Gallery), with [Li]mite[d] Roberson stretcher label. PREPARED [greyhound in circle] CANVAS HIGH ST, KENSINGTON [W?]
Stamp: D
[‘D’, all flax, see appendix 2]
[branch in High St, Kensington 1898-c.1960]
Illustrated (top): Four stamps on canvas, from top to bottom: Edward Spilsbury Swinson, Beatrice Webb, Within oval border: 1934 (National Portrait Gallery) REEVES & SONS LIMIT[ED] PREPARED [greyhound in circle] CANVAS LONDON
Stamp: ASP
Stamp: MADE IN ENGLAND
Stamp: REEVES & SONS LTD., ASHWIN ST., DALSTON. E.8. ^ Swinson
Illustrated (bottom): Oval stamp same as above; BSP, rather than Edgar Hunt, Feeding ASP; the address stamp in smaller lettering Time, 1933 (Bonham’s, 28 September 2016, lot 73)
[‘ASP’, A quality single primed pure flax; ‘BSP’, B quality single primed pure flax; see appendix 2]
[post code, E.8., dates to 1917 or later]
^ Hunt
Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale)
Illustrated: Four stamps on canvas, from top to bottom: Oskar Kokoschka, Loreley, 1941-2 (Tate) Within oval border:
REEVES & SONS LIMIT[ED] [PREPARED] [greyhound in circle] CANVAS LONDON
Stamp: BSP
Stamp: MADE IN ENGLAND.
Stamp: REEVES & SONS LTD., ASHWIN ST., DALSTON. E.8.
[oval stamp very similar to the preceding example]
5. Reeves & Sons Ltd, 1890-1976, labels
Illustrated: Label in dark blue ink, linear border with Edward Robert Hughes, notched corners, 12 cm wide, on panel: The Wood, Sunset, 1903 (Sotheby’s Belgravia, 27 REEVES & SONS, Ltd. January 1976, lot 140) Artists' Colormen, Picture Frame Makers, Carvers and Gilders. Any design copied or made to description. ------140, High Street, St. John's Wood, N.W.
[branch at this address 1896-1900]
Illustrated: Label, linear border, 11.4 cm wide, on board: Source: Cobbe coll., see note 2. THE "ART STUDENTS’ " ACADEMY BOARD PREPARED FOR OIL PAINTING. ------REEVES & SONS, Limited, LONDON.
Top left, palette against a star with tubes of paints, the palette inscribed in monogram, AS;
beneath star: TRADE MARK
Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale)
Illustrated: Label, linear border, on board: Attrib. Paul Henry, West of Ireland landscape (Colm Byrne) REEVES' “DALSTON” CANVAS BOARD. COARSE. ------MADE IN ENGLAND IN THE FOLLOWING SIZES (Fine or Coarse) :– [list of nine sizes from 8½ x 5 ins to 20 x 16 ins] REEVES & SONS, Ltd., LONDON.
in pen: PAUL HENRY
[Dalston canvas boards feature in Reeves’ catalogues from the 1930s]
Illustrated: Label, linear border, 5.5 cm wide, on board: John Lavery, Unspecified work, 1921, source: REEVES' MORLAND CANVAS BOARD. Cobbe coll., see note 2. ------THIS BOARD IS COVERED WITH REEVES' MORLAND CANVAS. ------MADE IN THE FOLLOWING SIZES– [list of 15 sizes from 7 x 5 ins to 20 x 16 ins]
[Morland canvas boards feature in Reeves’ catalogues from 1914; this label perhaps dates to the 1920s]
Illustrated: Label, linear border, 9.5 cm wide, on board: Source: Cobbe coll., see note 2. ESTD. [greyhound crest] 1768. ACADEMY BOARD FOR OIL PAINTING. MANUFACTURED BY REEVES & SONS, LIMITED, LONDON. THIN.
Work details Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale)
Illustrated: Printed cardboard, depicting shop at left, the Unspecified watercolour middle figure an artist with palette leaving (Private coll., Canada, footprints as he approaches a temple marked 1999, image Cyndie ‘FAME’, image 5.3 cm wide: Lack) REEVES’ A.C.M. WATER COLOUR BOARDS IN PACKETS OF SIX BOARDS...
On shop sign:
REEVES’ ANTIENT COLOUR HOUSE
and with other text.
[These boards can be found in Reeves’ Professional Price List, in the section on drawing papers, February 1927, p.314, with the same illustration and with the information that A.C.M. Water Colour Boards were covered with A.C.M. paper on one side only. Reeves & Son was one of five businesses, including Winsor & Newton, Rowney, Newman and Roberson, acting together as Associated Colour Merchants, which signed an agreement in 1916 with J. Barcham Green & Son to produce a range of papers for them, watermarked ‘A.C.M.’]
Appendix 1: Canvas grades and preparation, c.1936
Reeves’ canvases were distinguished by letter in early 20th-century catalogues. Their range remained remarkably consistent until the Second World War. ‘A’ canvases were more expensive than ‘B’ canvases. It should be noted that the illustration below shows the primed side of the canvas whereas the marks reproduced in this guide were applied to the unprimed reverse side.
From Reeves’ Abridged Price List, c.1936; the text summarising the range of canvases partly taken from Reeves’ Professional Price List, c.1936, section 8, 15th edition.
AW a heavy cloth for large work, 156 ins wide, pure flax
V a heavy cloth for large work, 156 ins wide, pure flax
R a heavy cloth for large work, 126 ins wide, pure flax
ASP ‘A’ quality, single primed, pure flax
BSP ‘B’ quality, single primed, pure flax
C pure flax
D pure flax
E pure flax
L jute
X mixed flax and jute
Q pure flax
J mixed flax and cotton
N all cotton
Students fine all cotton
Students coarse all cotton
Appendix 2: Canvas grades and preparation, 1912
The table below summarises the range of canvases listed in Reeves’s 1912 catalogue. ‘A’ canvases were more expensive than ‘B’ canvases. For a page from a later catalogue illustrating fifteen canvas types, see appendix 1.
code canvas summary description code canvas summary description
AW A, wide canvas, all flax H fine grain, all flax ASP A, single primed, all flax JSP mixed flax and cotton ADP A, double primed, all flax JDP mixed flaxen cotton AFP A, full primed, all flax K all flax ASM A, very smooth, all flax L mainly jute ABS A, absorbent, all flax M all flax BSP B, single primed, all flax N all cotton BFP B, full primed, all flax P sharp surface, all flax C fine grain, all flax Q all flax D all flax R suitable for large work, all flax E all flax S brown tint, all flax EBM brush marked, all flax T coarse grain, stout cloth, all jute F Roman grain, all flax V suitable for large work, all flax G Ticken grain, all flax W pastel canvas, foreign prepared
Notes
For an historical survey with time chart and map, see Cathy Proudlove, ‘Technical focus: suppliers’ marks and labels’, The Picture Restorer: The Journal of the British Association of Painting Conservator-Restorers, no.55, autumn 2019.
1. Acknowledgments: With thanks to Dr Joyce Townsend for providing information on paintings in Tate, collected by members of the Tate Conservation Department since the 1970s, Dr Tim Moreton, who for many years recorded canvas markings on the reverse of portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, and Nicola Costaras for access to conservation files at the Victoria and Albert Museum. With thanks also to Alexander Katlan and Cyndie Lack. 2. Earlier research: In the early 1970s, Cathy Proudlove (née Leach) distributed copies of her unpublished list of artists’ colourmen. In the course of her professional career at the former Area Museums Service for South East England and with Norfolk Museums Service, Cathy has seen and recorded, or been sent by professional colleagues, details of many suppliers’ marks and labels, some from private collections. She has published on the subject: ‘19th Century Prepared Artists’ Canvases’, Antique Collecting, July 1973, pp.2-4, and ‘London Artists’ Colourmen. Part I: A to D’, The Picture Restorer, no.10, autumn 1996. For a period, 1974-77, Alec Cobbe arranged for marks on paintings in sales at Sotheby’s Belgravia and Christie’s to be photographed (see his article on Winsor & Newton, Studies in Conservation, vol.21, no.2, May 1976, p.94). The photographs were later acquired by the late Richard Kissack, who planned to publish a book. Eventually he gave them to Cathy Proudlove, and images deriving from this collection have been reproduced when an image from a public collection has not been found. 3. Courtauld Institute database: A searchable database, Courtauld - Colourmen Online, was launched in 2011 and was frequently consulted in the preparation of the current compilation. 4. Tom Roberts. Examples, 1886-96, include Tom Roberts, The Artists' Camp, 1886 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne), Frank Paton, Run Rabbit Run, 1888 (Bonham's, 4 July 2017, lot 7, one of a pair), Arthur Streeton, The River, 1896 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne).
Copyright in this compilation, © National Portrait Gallery, London, September 2017, February 2020; copyright in individual images lies with owner, photographer or commissioner as may apply. Freely downloadable for research and personal use.