Posted: 28 Nov 2023 by PML
The National Gallery possesses a particularly tender and moving painting of the Madonna and Child by Ghirlandaio. It has a curved, segmental top, and an integral painted trompe l’oeil border giving the effect of the inside of the arched niche in which the two figures stand, which has made it difficult to frame – even in an arched version of a conventional frame ...
Posted: 14 Sep 2023 by PML
Van Gogh painted Madame Roulin, the wife of his friend Joseph Roulin, a postman in Arles, as a kind of secular Madonna - a symbol of family love and security. He even presented it to Gauguin after their destructive breach, asking that it should be hung as part of a triptych, between two paintings of sunflowers ...
Posted: 04 May 2023 by PML
Franz Maulbertsch (1724-96) was a Viennese artist whose work was sought after for castles and churches across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He had been particularly influenced by Venetian Rococo painting, and his wall, ceiling and easel paintings are all infused with the airy lightness of Tiepolo and Piazzetta ...
Posted: 08 Feb 2023 by PML
A painting is a window onto another world – of history or of the imagination - and we can only enter this world completely if there is a context to ease us in, and nothing to distract from the welcome of that opening window ...
Posted: 25 Jun 2020 by PML
The second part of this essay continues to explore the evolution of frames and their relationship to their architectural surroundings, resuming with the Baroque style in Britain during the 18th century up to the Art Deco style in the 20th century ...
Posted: 31 Mar 2020 by PML
With the help of the Paul Mitchell Photographic Archive, our two part essay explores the evolution of frames and their relationship to their architectural context, through time and across nationalities. Part 1 starts with their appearance in Egypt 3,500 years ago as the borders on wall paintings, and finishes with their opulence in France during the reign of Louis XIV.
Posted: 12 Nov 2019 by PML
Unlike Degas, a number of whose original frames have survived on the paintings they were made for, and whose sketchbooks containing profiles ...
Posted: 28 Feb 2018 by PML
Paul Mitchell were pleased to offer a rare 19th century French Louis XV revival frame for the the star lot in Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on the 28th February 2018
Posted: 15 Jan 2018 by PML
Following on from Part 1 'Framing the Impressionists', we continue to look at the various periods and styles of frames chosen for the works of the Impressionists
Posted: 13 Oct 2017 by PML
17th century Netherlandish paintings were framed in a variety of styles, adding to the interest of a hanging in the Dutch interior - which might be panelled with wood, hung with embossed leather, or painted in a pale, neutral shade. The foundation of the Dutch East India Company in 1602 exponentially increased the import of exotic woods, and encouraged the craft of the ebony worker ...