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: Alvan Fisher, unspecified work, possibly Autumnal Landscape with Indians, 1848 (ex-Corcoran Gallery of Art, see Katlan 1987 p.277), source: Cathy Proudlove, see note 2)

Stencil on canvas:

REEVES & SONS Prepared

ARTISTS CANVAS. 150 Cheapside

LONDON

Illustrated: Source: The Archives of Alexander Katlan, now housed in the Winterthur Museum and Libraries. Repr. from A.W. Katlan, American Artists’ Materials. Vol. II, A Guide to Stretchers, Panels, Millboards, and Stencil Marks, 1992, p.462.

Stencil, broken linear border with inset corners, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS Prepared

ARTISTS CANVAS. 150 Cheapside

LONDON

[very similar to preceding stencil but with border]

Illustrated: Cornelius Krieghoff, unspecified work, source: Cathy Proudlove, see note 2.

Stencil, partly obscured, broken linear border with inset corners, on canvas:

[REEV]ES & SONS [PR]EPARED

[ARTIS]TS CANVAS [---] Cheapside

[L]ONDON

Work details

Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale)

Illustrated: Alfred Stannard, Seascape (Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery)

Label, 16.2 cm wide, on mahogany panel:

REEVES & SONS’ COLLAPSIBLE

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 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]

^ whole

^ detail

2. Reeves & Sons at 113 Cheapside, 1845-1890, canvas marks

See section 4 for Reeves & Sons Ltd from 1890

Illustrated:

Francisco José Resende, Cena de Costumes Pitoresca, 1860 (PNP)

Stencil, oval format, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS.

— Manufacturers.

– 113 – CHEAPSIDE London

Illustrated: John Frederick Herring, Horses and Pigs, c.1864 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne) Click for a larger image of stencil.

Stencil, oval format, 12.2 cm wide, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS. —

Manufacturers. – 113 –

CHEAPSIDE London

[‘M’ of Manufacturers further to left]

Illustrated: Attrib. John Frederick Herring Junior, Farmyard Scene, c.1870? (Tate) Also found on: Maud Earl, Pugs, board,

1888 (Sotheby's Belgravia, 25 March 1975, lot 172)

Stamp, 9.2 cm wide, on canvas (also used on board):

REEVES & SONS, MANUFACTURERS,

113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON.

[sans serif typeface; used on smaller pictures,

1881-90, source: Cobbe coll., see note 2]

Work details

Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale)

Illustrated: Unidentified portrait (Belmont, Lyme Regis, 2016)

Stamp on canvas:

REEVES & SONS, Manufacturers

113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON.

Illustrated: Unspecified work, 1871, source: Cobbe coll., see note 2. Also found on: John Jones, Cockenzie Harbour on the Firth of Forth, 1877 (Sotheby’s

Belgravia, 20 July 1976, lot 35)

Stamp, 15.7 cm wide, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS, Manufacturers

113. CHEAPSIDE, LONDON.

[middle line longer]

Illustrated: John Lavery, A Girl in a Black Hat, 1887 (Sotheby’s Belgravia, Edinburgh sale, 25 February 1975, lot 301)

Stamp, 14.2 cm wide, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS, Manufacturers,

113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON

[lettering more upright]

Illustrated: Tom Roberts, The Artists' Camp, 1886 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne). Click for a larger image of stencil. 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

Stamp, 14.3 cm wide, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS, MANUFACTURERS,

[1]13, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON.

[middle line in capitals] .

3. Reeves & Sons at 113 Cheapside, 1845-1890, labels

Trading as Reeves & Sons Ltd from 1890

Illustrated: Unknown artist, Portrait of a Dog, 1845 (CJM Asset Management, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, 4 June 2015, lot 1007, online)

Label, decorative border, centre of millboard:

REEVES & SONS’ PREPARED MILLBOARDS

for Artists. 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON.

in ink bottom right:

John B. Banham,/ Gillingham

Work details

Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale)

Illustrated: Eugène von Guérard, Mount William and part of the Grampians in West Victoria, 1865 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne) Click for a larger image of label.

Label, decorative border, on panel:

REEVES & SONS, [greyhound crest]

ARTISTS' COLOURMEN, MANUFACTURERS OF DRAWING PENCILS

FROM BROCKEDON'S PURE CUMBERLAND LEAD,

Wholesale Stationers, &c. 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON, E.C.

[the spotted greyhound crest derives from the Reeves family crest]

Illustrated: Edwin Boddington, Near Henley-on-Thames or Near Burnham Beeches, both 1868 (Sotheby’s Belgravia, 30 June 1976, lot 105), the label apparently split in two.

Label, 9.7 cm wide, on board:

REEVES & SONS [greyhound crest]

ARTISTS' COLOUR MANUFACTURERS, PURE CUMBERLAND LEAD PENCIL, &

Mathematical Drawing Instrument Makers, 113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON, E.C.,

WHERE MAY BE HAD EVERY ARTICLE CONNECTED WITH DRAWING,

PAINTING, AND THE FINE ARTS.

Illustrated: Walter Hugh Paton, A Beached Fishing Boat (Sotheby’s Belgravia, 8 April 1975, lot 74)

Label, 9.1 cm wide, on board:

[REE]VES & SONS, [greyhound crest]

ARTISTS' COLOURMEN. Lead Pencil & Mathematical Instrument Makers,

MANUFACTURERS AND IMPORTERS OF EVERY ARTICLE [?]

CONNECTED WITH DRAWING, PAINTING AND THE FINE ARTS [?]

113, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON, E.C.

[1857 or later, given use of postal district, E.C., in address]

^ best image available

4. Reeves & Sons Ltd, 1890-1976, canvas marks

In 1896 canvases began to be designated by letter according to type, on the evidence of individual paintings and Reeves’ 1896 catalogue

Illustrated: Edward Waite, unspecified painting, 1891, source: Cobbe coll., see note 2.

Stamp, 14.5 cm wide, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS, LTD MANUFACTURERS

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: Edwin Steele, Still Life of Flowers, 1893 (Sotheby’s Belgravia, 6 January 1976, lot 174) Found on works, 1892-93, source: Cobbe coll., see note 2.

Stamp, oval border, 10.1 cm wide, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS LIMITED

ARTISTS' [greyhound in circle] CANVAS LONDON

[Reeves adopted a new format for canvas 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: Aby Altson, Meditation, 1896 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne) Click for a larger image of stencil.

Stamp, oval border, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS LIMITED

ARTISTS' [greyhound in circle] CANVAS LONDON

[slightly different to above; e.g. ‘L’ of LIMITED sits beneath ‘E’ of REEVES; larger central design]

Illustrated: Herbert Draper, The Lament for Icarus, exh. 1898 (Tate) Also found on: John Lavery, Sir Lionel Cust, 1912, board (National Portrait Gallery)

This format found on works, 1898-1916, source: Cobbe coll., see note 2.

Stamp, oval border, 11.0 cm wide, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS LIMITED

PREPARED [greyhound in circle] CANVAS LONDON

Stamp: C [PREPARED, rather than ARTISTS’ canvas; larger central design] [‘C’ was an all flax canvas, described in Reeves’ 1912 catalogue as ‘fine grain’]

Illustrated: Charles Kerr, Myself, exh. 1899 (Tate) Stamp slightly smaller than the preceding one on the picture by Herbert Draper.

Stamp, oval border, 9.8 cm wide, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS LIMIT[ED]

PREPARED [greyhound in circle] CANVAS LONDON

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: Arthur Streeton, Arkwright’s Valley, Derbyshire, 1911 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne) Click for a larger image of stamp. ‘Fatter format’ stamp found on works, 1901-17, source: Cobbe coll., see note 2.

Stamp, oval border, 10.7 cm wide, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS [LIMITED]

[PREPARED] [greyhound in circle] [CANVAS] LONDON

Stencil: S [‘S’ was the most expensive canvas in Reeves’ 1912 catalogue, described as ‘all flax’ and ‘brown tint’]

Illustrated: Richard Jack, Rehearsal with Nikisch, 1912 (Tate)

Stamp, occurring about every 3 feet (91.5 cm) along inside of selvedge turnover, on canvas:

416 REEVES & SONS LD. [Additionally with letter ‘D’ (not shown here)]

Illustrated: George Bell, Flower piece, 1926 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne), with stamp of local supplier, Whitelaw, Melbourne, Australia. Click for a larger image of both stamps.

Stamp beneath stretcher bar, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS LD MANUFACTURERS

LONDON, ENGLAND.

[possibly a stamp used for canvas sold wholesale or exported rather than retail in the home market]

Illustrated: Herbert Colborne Oakley, Floral Piece (Southampton City Art Gallery)?

Stamp, circular border, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS LTD 161

HIGH St KENSINGTON

--

[branch at 161 High St, Kensington 1898-1927]

Illustrated: Reginald Grenville Eves, Thomas Hardy, 1924 (Birmingham Museums Trust)

Stamp, 9.5 cm wide, oval border, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS LIMITED

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: Reginald Grenville Eves, Stanley Baldwin, c.1933 (National Portrait Gallery) Stamp very similar to that on the picture by Arthur Streeton, above.

Stamp, oval border, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS LIMITED

[PREPARED] [greyhound in circle] [CANVAS] LONDON

Stamp: C [‘C’, fine grain, all flax, see appendix 2]

Illustrated: James Gunn, 27th Earl of Crawford, 1939 (National Portrait Gallery), with Roberson stretcher label.

Stamp, oval border, on canvas:

REEVES & SONS [Li]mite[d]

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):

Edward Spilsbury Swinson, Beatrice Webb, 1934 (National Portrait Gallery) Illustrated (bottom): Edgar Hunt, Feeding Time, 1933 (Bonham’s, 28 September 2016, lot 73)

Four stamps on canvas, from top to bottom: Within oval border:

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. Oval stamp same as above; BSP, rather than ASP; the address stamp in smaller lettering [‘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]

^ Swinson

^ Hunt

Work details

Mark transcripts Product marks (not to uniform scale)

Illustrated: Oskar Kokoschka, Loreley, 1941-2 (Tate)

Four stamps on canvas, from top to bottom: 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: Edward Robert Hughes, The Wood, Sunset, 1903 (Sotheby’s Belgravia, 27 January 1976, lot 140)

Label in dark blue ink, linear border with notched corners, 12 cm wide, on panel:

REEVES & SONS, Ltd. 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:

Source: Cobbe coll., see note 2.

Label, linear border, 11.4 cm wide, on board:

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: Attrib. Paul Henry, West of Ireland landscape (Colm Byrne)

Label, linear border, on board:

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: John Lavery, Unspecified work, 1921, source: Cobbe coll., see note 2.

Label, linear border, 5.5 cm wide, on board:

REEVES' MORLAND CANVAS BOARD. ---------------------------

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: Source: Cobbe coll., see note 2.

Label, linear border, 9.5 cm wide, on board:

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: Unspecified watercolour (Private coll., Canada, 1999, image Cyndie Lack)

Printed cardboard, depicting shop at left, the middle figure an artist with palette leaving footprints as he approaches a temple marked ‘FAME’, image 5.3 cm wide:

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.