It is with excitement that I enter a field, picture frames or mirror frames, which I can now say, after days of documentation, is a fascinating field. I have discovered a marvelous world of painters, architects, sculptors, specialists in the art of framing who work with famous auction houses and museums. The information is so rich and interesting that I propose a series on the subject of frames. Don't expect a specialist's dissertation. I just want to share with you this new world that I am enthusiastically beginning to discover. So here's the pilot!
Role of the ream
I'm no connoisseur, but instinctively I knew that a frame can't be chosen just any frame. I say this because, at one point, I had to frame a couple of paintings and I think I exasperated the people at a specialist shop. I expected the frame to match the painting, me, the house, everything. The proposal to use the same frame for two different paintings seemed to me to be downright indecent. At the time I thought I was pretentious. Now I discover that I had very little pretensions.
The frames are considered the Cinderellas of the art world, as it says Emma Crichton-Miller at Christie's auction house in London. They support the art in the shadows, putting it in the spotlight and rarely getting noticed.
The Rama is not just there to protect a work of art, her task is much more complex. Of the services Cinderella performs for her mistress, the painting, the most important are:
- highlights the artwork
- present the work by drawing attention to colors and patterns and allow them to resonate with the viewer
- suggests to the viewer the value to be placed on the work
- accompanies the painting in its space as the link between the art and the place where it is exhibited - museum, gallery or private home.
Frames are somewhere between furniture and works of art. In the past, they were made by famous sculptors of the time specifically for a particular painting. Experts in framing paintings at auction - framing craftsmen, as they call themselves - say that in 9 out of 10 cases, the frame that best matches the painting is the one made in the same period as the painting or a copy of one. As we are slowly discovering the importance of the frame, I think it would be a good time to look at when it came into being and how it evolved.
Period of the beginning of the branch
Information about frames goes back thousands of years. Some sources speak of frames discovered in ancient Egyptian tombs from 200 BC, others say that the earliest frames discovered are over 4000 years old.
But the "grandfathers" of the modern frame are to be found in the 11th-12th centuries, in close connection with the church. They were altar works, and the painting and the frame formed a whole. A groove was cut in the piece of wood to be painted, separating the painted part from the frame. The frame was carved first, often with elements of the Gothic cathedral style, and then the painting was done.
The Renaissance was the period when painting left the church. Rich families began to commission paintings just for themselves. It's the period when the frame appears separate from the painting and can be replaced. It was architects who made the first frames. They are basically the predecessors of the wicker craftsmen. The frames copied the lines of temples, the way the sides were joined, the decorations. The frame was seen as a door, a window opening onto a fragment of life. This is the period in which the frame very similar to today's frame appeared, with the same pattern on all sides. The frame itself has a straight or slightly wavy center between moldings that can be decorated. This type of frame is called tape and I will come back to it.
If in the Renaissance period the way frames looked in different countries was very similar, in the Mannerist period that followed, frames started to have country-specific and trend-specific patterns. We find Italian-style frames with exaggerated decorations, distortions of classical motifs and optical effects (frames "Sansovino"), in the English style, more temperate in terms of ornamentation, with foliage, twists and segmentations (frames "Sunderland") or in Dutch style, with elements suggesting the flow of molten silver combined with marine representations.
With this period frames started to be made by furniture manufacturers. They followed the same evolution as furniture, with frames appearing in baroque style, rococo or art nouveau. The advent of industrialization and of machines that could easily reproduce the designs led to an increase in the production of frames and much easier access to them. Slowly, cheaper but less laden with history and art, the cheaper but less historically and artistically rich offerings for the general public appeared. The frames became a common commodity and people began to forget their value. But there is a guild that continues to treat frames as works of art.
photo source: paulmitchell.co.uk
Wood and frames
You're probably already wondering where the wood is. Especially since there are now lots of frames that are made of any material but not wood. The wood is and has been since the beginning tightly connected to the frame.
After the frame was separated from the painting it was always made on a wooden frame. In Italy, tape was made of carved wood that was coated with a solution of chalk and bone glue - liquid gypsum. It hardened to become as hard as stone and was carved to create ornaments and relief elements.
The wooden frames were made of poplar woodThe more uniform, easily carved linden wood. This wood was gilded and decorated to make it stand out, thus increasing its value. Less valuable wood was used for the secondary elements of the frame, which was not very easily carved either: fir, spruce, pine.
Nucul was used for its fine texture and color. For this reason it was not 'hidden', the gilding was discreet and did not cover it completely. In England it was also used oak treeas a special wood. In Italy, oak was less widely used, being preferred chestnut and ulmul. It was also used pear wood or plum, but the fact that they were fruit trees limited their cutting.
When from the colonies began to be brought wagons, it has become a favorite of frames. It was decorated with tortoiseshell and gemstones, and became real jewelry. The more austere, patterned black Dutch black frames are recognized and appreciated worldwide.
Valuable veneer was also used for decoration. Parts of the frame were covered with specially patterned veneer made from the stingrays or burls. The veneer from these burls has an incredible design.
The art of framing
There is undoubtedly an art of framing. There are stories in this world so little known that can become legends. To give you an idea. Michael Gregory of Arnold Wiggins&Sons, a firm specializing in antique frames, has been searching for 22 years for the perfect frame to frame a painting of a Dutch classic. And Paul Mitchell, of the London frame firm that bears his name, framed paintings for auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonhams, selling them for much higher than expected.
Paintings and mirrors are the most impactful decorations with which to personalize a room. The wooden frames in the pictures, produced by Holzart, can be admired in our showroom in Cluj-Napoca. The profiles are available in various finishes and sizes. There are simple frames, frames in classic style, decorative frames with golden, silver or patinated finishes, with vintage or rustic touches, you can find something suitable to create the desired ambience.
It is very clear to me now that one can talk endlessly about frames. I am afraid that, in my desire to say as much as possible, I have not been very clear in my exposition. I promise that in the future I will "attack" a single topic related to frames and develop it at length.
Framing is certainly an art and it can be extended beyond paintings. I have read entire papers on mirror frames, how mirrors and the art of framing them have evolved over time. And what we know now, with the mirror pinned to the wall in 4 corners is a recent solution that came out of convenience, perhaps also out of scarcity. But the mirror has always been framed. And in this case the frame is the Cinderella that demarcates, frames and furnishes the mirror with the house. But, about mirror frames I will talk in the next related post.
photo source: metmuseum.org
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You might be happy to know that in Romania there is a Roman-American manufacture that restores antique frames, custom makes faithful reproductions of historical frames and creates original museum quality frames. The production of this manufacture is dedicated to its American and Western European customers. Check our website http://www.roscas.ro
Congratulations on the above article. I didn't think I would see in Romania articles inspired by Paul Mitchell's work and experience.
Thank you!
Since you want to write more about frames in the future, let me tell you that frames are appreciated primarily for their execution, style and craftsmanship. The most commonplace and affordable of frames are the modern ones, made from INDUSTRIALLY PRE-FINISHED, 45-degree cut and stapled frames, as they have been in all the frame/frame workshops in the world since the late 19th century. But vintage frames were hand-made for a specific work, with a look and finish in dialogue and complete communion with the work to be framed. In such frames you don't see the joints and asymmetries at the corners, on the contrary, there are some ornaments or at least some distinct cartouches that break the monotony of the mechanically machined wand. The frames thus designed seem to be carved from a single piece of wood, always with a certain piece of art in mind. Such frames are first assembled in raw wood which is then carved, coated with a special primer and gilded. In English they are called closed corner frames and the people who make them are called framemakers as opposed to the framer who makes frames from foil. Paul Mitchel would be seriously offended if you called him a framer, he is a frame maker, historian and author.
All frames prior to the early 19th century were closed corner frames. They were built like houses, from the foundation up. If you uncover Paul Mitchell you will find that there was a time when frames were architectural elements and cost considerably more than paintings.
As a curiosity, I will also tell you that the great museums of the world acquire valuable antique frames to use with their poorly framed or, for various reasons, unframed works. In the absence of original frames of the right style, period and region, those museums resort to reproductions of frames that are suitable in age, location and style. A few years ago the Metropolitan Museum in New York paid Eli Wilner & Co. of NYC, the city that never sleeps, over $500,000 (almost $800,000) for a frame reproduction. It's the frame that today frames Emmanuel Leutze's "George Washington Crossing the River Dellaware". The original frame was lost 100 years ago, but the author's sketches and a photograph were preserved to make it possible to reproduce it. I give you a link to that project http://www.eliwilner.com/projects/washington-delaware.php and the Eli Wilner & Co. website.
You talked about such frames above when you mentioned ancient frames and their reproductions quoting and reproducing from Paul Mitchell's writings. Holtzart can only be overwhelmed that you mentioned it in that context.