Decorative picture frames

April 1989

Interior Design


The use of ornamental borders to surround and enhance a picture dates
back to antiquity The earliest frames were really suggestions of edges-a
bas-relief, mosaic or fresco outlined with a margin of the same material
in a contrasting color or an ornamental figure in a linear design. Walls
and ceilings were natural frames for most paintings, just as niches for
sculpture were part of architectural plans.

The need for frames did not arise until painting evolved as a portable
art in the Middle Ages. These early works were made of wood, and the
first frames were probably necessary to reinforce the wooden panels and
keep them from warping. The borders for these pictures were made by the
artist, who considered the frame an extension of the painting itself.
The arched and vaulted outer edges of the frames reflected the Gothic
architecture for which they were created, and the rich ornate gold
decoration was full of religious symbolism that underlined the
ecclesiastical paintings.

As the demand for portable paintings increased, painters confined
themselves to painting, and the need for fine frames launched a new
craft. Artisans evolved into artists, and picture frames grew more
significant. Frames played an increasingly important role as reflections
of architectural style and interior decoration. By the 15th century
subjects for paintings began to move away from the purely devout. Frames
became less elaborate and more specific to the nature of the painting.

The Renaissance brought to frames, as it did to many other art forms, a
new dimension of excitement and creativity. Italian Renaissanceframes,
often works of art in their own right, mirrored the exuberance of the
architecture, with elaborately carved and gilded columns, pilasters and
pediments. The richness of the frames reinforced and heightened the
glowing images of the paintings inside them.

Italian Renaissance frame makers influenced French artists and craftsmen
of the 16th and 17th centuries. During this period the courts of France
were bursting with artistic creativity. Rich, dramatic frames were
designed to complement the larger-than-life subjects of baroque
paintings and enhance the opulent interiors of royal and noble homes.

In England, frame making reached its zenith in the late 17th and 18th
centuries. Leading furniture makers such as Thomas Chippendale and
William Kent included ideas for frames in their pattern books, and their
styles displayed the refinements of their furniture designs. Grinling
Gibbons, whose exquisite carvings of birds, fruits, flowers and
streamers were unrivaled, brought an unsurpassed elegance to the art of
the frame.

The Adam brothers also designed frames as well as furniture and an
chitecture during this period, and Robert Adam incorporated frames into
the interior design of the stately homes he planned. He went one step
further by designing frames for specific pieces of furniture.

Although foreign styles influenced the evolution of frames in America,
early domestic designs were very simple. Typical colonial shapes were
plain or crossover moldings, crudely carved and nailed. Sometimes the
frames were painted with flowers or false wood graining. As the country
developed, its fashion and furniture demonstrated a simpler style, less
elaborate than European design.

The frames in the photograph illustrate a wide variety of styles and
mate rials. On the left is a German Black Forest frame, a fantasy of
twigs, vines, leaves and flowers in carved walnut. To the right is an
Anglo-Indian frame of pecanwood inlaid with ivory and ebony The two
frames in the middle are French; the small oval is made of Boulle
(marquetry in tortoiseshell and brass) and the miniature is framed in
basse taille enamel. The frames at the bottom are both English. To the
left is a very popular Victorian style, a bird's-eye maple frame with an
inner rim of gilt. To the right is a frame of wood with gesso (a chalky
substance mixed with sizing and applied in layers before gilding or
painting) inner and outer borders. This style is traditionally used for
portraits.
The two frames at the top were found at Vito Giallo on Madison Avenue,
the Boulle frame was a gift and the others were unearthed in flea markets.
H. Heydenryk, on East 76th Street, has an astonishing collection of antique
frames in an endless variety of size, period and country of origin. The APF
Gallery, a frame maker of reproduction frames, does expert work in the
restoration of antiques.