Featured Old framed art - how was this picture made?

Please tell me the type of art this is and maybe the time frame it is from so I can do more research. Thank you!

 

Welcome to the Forum, Vivian. Hard to tell what it is, but kind of curious as to the black oval part of the glass almost looks like a reverse painting with a flake of paint off on left side and top right corner or maybe its paper matted? Not sure, if it is painted than maybe the portrait is also reverse painted on glass? There are others who know more than me here. I have only worked on a repair of a reverse painting larger than this size and not a portrait. You would have to be very careful with it if it is one.

 

Hi @Vivian Broadbent , welcome!

Probably a print behind reverse painted glass... Like the Madonna on the right. Nice!

 

Welcome to Antiquers, Vivian.

I'm with scoutshouse, only the black with gold trim were reverse painted on the glass, and the picture is a print, probably hand coloured.
I have some 1850s prints in the original frames with a similar black 'mat' with gold trim reverse painted on the glass.

 

Thank you for the information. I have a pair of these (different but similar scenes). A friend gave them to me years ago - and I love them!

 

The one you showed is lovely. The original is a painting of the children of king Charles I, by Antony van Dyck.
Stick around, other forum members could have a better idea of dating them. I can only say when my prints were made and framed, I don't know how long this went on for.

 

This black and gold technique is called "verre églomisé" in France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verre_églomisé

 

Interesting, thanks for the link, kyra. I finally know what has been lurking around the house.
They frame four prints from an 1850s series of Dutch costumes, like this one (not mine, but I have the same one in a frame with verre églomisé )

 

It's likely a hand colored engraving. The picture, which is in Dresden, was engraved by William French, c1840, for the Albert Henry Payne company. The engraving was re-struck, c1882, by Selmar Hess of New York. Impossible to tell which version this is. It does seem to be an appropriate size.

There is an earlier engraving of the same picture, mid-eighteenth century, by Robert Savage, but that engraving mirrors the image.

There's a bunch of these images currently on eBay and ranging in price from $8.22 to $176.00.

 

This is the second picture. It must be of the other children.

 

These are the same children. It was actually painted shortly before the other one, but the king was upset that his eldest son was portrayed in a skirt, the way young boys were dressed, and not in breeches. So van Dyck had to paint another portrait.
Here is the story:
https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/404403/the-three-eldest-children-of-charles-i

The way the painter's name was spelt in the quote is close to the actual pronunciation.

 

I should point out that I can't be sure, from the photos, that your picture is a colored version of the print I named. It's just that the size and time period seem to fit your picture. The William French print is of a comparable size to yours and would have been readily available at a probably comparable time.

I know that the second image was also published as an engraving, but have not looked up the details.