GEORGE MORANT OF BOND STREET LONDON (1770-1846)

Bowen & Morant 1808-1812, George Morant by 1814-1826, G. Morant & Son 1828-1841, George John Morant 1842-1851, Morant & Boyd 1852-1859, Morant, Boyd & Morant 1859-1867, Morant, Boyd, Morant & Co 1868-1869, Morant, Boyd & Blanford 1870-1884, Morant & Co 1885-1915. At 81 New Bond St, London 1808/9-1812, 88 New Bond St 1809-1841, 91 New Bond St 1842-1915, 4, 5, 6, later 7 Woodstock St, W 1855-1915. Paper hangers, carvers and gilders, picture framemakers, later primarily interior decorators and upholsterers.

The business, founded by George Morant (1770-1846) and continued by his son, George John Morant (1799-1865?), lasted for more than a century in one form or another. It was in the 1820s that its trade in picture frames was particularly significant.

George Morant is said to have been a pupil or employee of the decorator, Sheringham, in about 1793 (Joy 1977 pp.179-80). Subsequently, Morant entered into two short-lived partnerships. That between Archibald Johnson, George Morant and John Tootle, paper hangers and glass manufacturers, trading as Johnson & Morant, at 41 Ludgate Hill, from 1805 or earlier, was dissolved in 1808 (London Gazette 23 February 1808). That between G. Bowen and G. Morant, paper hanging decorators at 81 New Bond St from c.1808 was dissolved in 1812 (The Times 10 February 1812), although the partnership continued to be listed in the Post Office London directory until 1816. Bowen had been in business at 81 New Bond Street as early as 1800, according to the Post Office London directory, and it may be that it is these origins which lay behind Morant's claim that his business had been founded in 1790.

Apparently by 1812 Morant was trading independently at 88 New Bond St. The architect, J.B. Papworth, once his fellow pupil at Sheringham's, redesigned his shop for him in 1817 (Simon 1996 p.127). Over many years Papworth provided Morant with designs for decoration and ornament, and worked for Morant on his residence at Hendon (George McHardy, Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects: Office of J.B. Papworth, 1977, pp.28, 32, 118).

Morant built up a significant business. He took out insurance for a considerable sum with the Sun Fire Office at 88 New Bond St as a house decorator, painter, carver and gilder in 1824 and as a paper hanger in 1826 (Guildhall Library, Records of Sun Fire Office, vols 495, 515, see DEFM). He entered into partnership with his son in the late 1820s but this partnership, G. Morant and Son, house decorators of New Bond St, was dissolved on his retirement in 1841 (The Times 28 August 1841). In his lengthy will, made 10 August and proved 10 December 1846, George Morant of Wimpole St made numerous specific bequests, referring to various paintings, and to business arrangements with his son, George John, since the dissolution of their partnership in 1841.

As a paper hanger and interior decorator, Morant and his successors played a leading role. For a fuller account, see the Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, where his earliest known bill-heads, from 88 New Bond St, are quoted, from the beginning of George IV's reign, describing him as ‘Ornamental Painter and Paper-hanging Manufacturer to their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge... House Painting and every article in the Gilding Line.'

As a framemaker, Morant was most active in the 1820s, primarily framing work for Sir Thomas Lawrence, such as his full-length portraits, 2nd Earl of Harewood, 1823 (Harewood House, Yorkshire, the frame now on George IV, Wallace Collection, repr. Michael Gregory, ‘Picture Framing: Lawrence, Morant and a Picture Frame from Harewood', Museum Management and Curatorship, vol.15, 1996, p.424), George Canning, 1825, and Lord Liverpool, 1827, both for Sir Robert Peel (both National Portrait Gallery, see Simon 1996 fig.103). He did further framing work for Peel in 1828 (Simon 1996 p.170, n.2). In 1830 and subsequently Morant received several significant payments from the estate of Thomas Lawrence, including a payment of £646 on 24 June 1830 (V&A National Art Library, MSL/1938/1923). Morant's frame trade label from the 1820s described him as ‘Carver, Gilder and Picture Frame Maker to His Majesty' (repr. Simon 1996 p.100). Many of the frames he made for George IV for portraits by Lawrence between 1825 and 1830 were described as very richly ornamented, the larger frames costing as much as £46.10s (Millar 1969 p.60, etc). G. Morant & Son charged Sir John Soane £21 in February 1829 for framing a portrait, presumably Lawrence's portrait of Soane himself, in a ‘richly ornamented frame of the King's Pattern' (information from the late Peter Thornton, 1994).

As a collector, Morant acquired old masters and patronised various contemporary artists, often acquiring works in exchange for framing and other services. James Ward sold Morant a Farmyard for £52.10s in 1820, at the same time paying him more than £207 to cover his 'Bill for Exhibition &c &c in Piccadilla' (Royal Academy Library, James Ward account book). Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding sold Morant a drawing in 1824 and later received frames for various drawings up until December 1828 (Edinburgh University Library, La.II.648/165-6). Richard Ramsay Reinagle sold Morant a picture by David Teniers in 1825 (Edinburgh University Library, La.II.648/174). Morant's collection of old masters was auctioned at Phillips in 1832, supposedly on his retirement from business (The Times 2 May 1832).

In 1862 the business, trading as Morant, Boyd & Morant, was described as interior decorators and upholsterers, by appointment to her Majesty. The business appears to have ceased making picture frames. It passed by way of George John Morant to Robert Morant (d.1873), who was joined by two other partners, Philip Boyd and Thomas Blanford, who in turn took into partnership their manager, Andrew Matthews, who eventually owned the entire business, according to an account in one of the firm's publications (The Morant Collection of Old Velvets, Damasks, Brocades, Etc at 91 New Bond St, London, Virtue & Co, introduction by M. Jourdain, n.d., c.1910, pp.116-7).

Sources: Judy Crosby Ivy, Constable and the Critics, 1802-1837, Woodbridge, 1991, p.159.