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: 14 Sep 2017 by PML
This was previously framed in a later French Louis XIV / early Regence model. This overpowered the portrait due to scale of section width, corner-&- centre cartouches and elaborate decorative ornament in the frieze. The original finish has been altered over the years ...
Posted: 20 Apr 2017 by PML
Judith W. Mann, Curator of European Art at Saint Louis Art Museum, initially approached us in regards to reframing their 'Portrait of a Woman’ by the Florentine Mannerist painter, Allesandro Allori..
Posted: 10 Dec 2016 by PML
In the first part of this article (The Cassetta Part 1), its ancestors, structure and development were described, along with some of the decorative techniques used to ornament it, such as punchwork and pastiglia. In this article, our focus is on parcel gilt finishing, specifically looking at arabesque ornament and exploring its origins..
Posted: 27 May 2016 by PML
The cassetta is the most fundamental frame design, on which practically every other genre or pattern is based. It is usually translated, lazily, as a 'box' frame, which doesn't describe it at all. It could be more accurately called an 'encasing' frame, like a casement window; a rectangular border with a very simple cross section, usually with a flat central frieze surrounded on each side by mouldings.