The Frame Blog

V&A: Call for papers – Ukrainian Cultural Heritage and UK Institutions: Shifting Perspectives and Practice - ICOM UK This article was first published by the V&A. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, cultural institutions around the world have become more aware of the long-standing attempts at erasure and appr...

The V & A is holding a conference on 15 September 2026, dealing with the better understanding of and care for Ukrainian objects in all institutions, and greater knowledge of Ukraine's history and culture. The deadline for abstracts is 12 December 2025.
uk.icom.museum/va-call-for-...

Here for 29th September, Michaelmas, is one of the best depictions of St Michael in all his knightly splendour (Sternberg Palace, Prague)...

...See also: theframeblog.com/2020/11/19/f...

Or this:

bsky.app/profile/mari...

This one is wonderful... although having her standing in the corner of the sitting room might be slightly on the surreal side of intensely creepy. And what might she do when switched off?

NB I wouldn't try eating it - it's probably made of toughened pterodactyl hide.

I think that, like small children, if she can't see anyone, then technically she isn't there...

‘Drawings’ section added to The Frame Blog The Frame Blog now has a new section (accessible, like the Archives, Contributors, etc., from the header, above), which contains drawings and designs for frames, organized by nationality within century. These are taken mainly from the drawings departments of large museums and similar institutions; occasionally from commercial galleries and auction houses; and each drawing is linked back to its source. As well as designs for altarpieces and moveable frames, the subjects include wall elevations containing frames, some designs for engravings of frames or book frontispieces and illustrations where these seem significant, and drawings of details of ornaments or profiles.

‘Drawings’ section added to The Frame Blog

The Frame Blog now has a new section (accessible, like the Archives, Contributors, etc., from the header, above), which contains drawings and designs for frames, organized by nationality within century. These are taken mainly from the drawings departments…

That is certainly an argument in favour of HVIII over the Trumpeter, although I shouldn't have cared to be a female at the former's court. Well, nor at the latter's, either, but presumably I might in that case have had more security for my head...

I feel we’ve pointed much energy at trying to decide whether Trump is Caligula or Nero, whereas I think he is probably Idi Amin. Though with much worse tailoring.

...and much oranger... Possibly with an element of Genghis Khan (without the charm), and a strong thread of Henry VIII (without the pieces of cod).

That's very hard to believe, so I won't. 🙂

Dear Penny, thank you 🙂

I am v. in your debt, thank you... and sadly I know very few of anybody, ungrammatically speaking...

Tee hee! Brilliant! Why are you not ruling the world, and confounding the crowd-born 'charisma' of Trump, Farage & Putin (also see Hitler and various cult leaders) with your wit and sense...?

Probably my main audience is amongst those who appreciate the smartypants approach to Trump, Farage, and the general Decline of the Roman Empire state of world politics (including knowledgeable comparisons to Caligula and horsine senators), so, yes, please... 🙂 🙂 🙂

It's not because I say much of interest, unlike you; but the dissimilarity between Twitter & here is that I was away when a movement last year onto BlueSky meant a way of getting your newly-arrived Twitter followers was open - and I missed it! & it's dispiriting to have to build it all up again...

@cerishields.bsky.social and @nguthrie.bsky.social - Thank you so much for reposting the Drawings section's birth on The Frame Blog @theframeblog.bsky.social ; I have very few followers since coming here, and every bit of support helps so much and is appreciated...🙂 🙂

Drawings DRAWINGS and DESIGNS for FRAMES This section of The Frame Blog is intended to collect together from various sources – museums and elsewhere – as many as possible designs and drawings of…

A lot of pages are now live in the 'Drawings' section of The Frame Blog, accessible from the header. The C15 to halfway thro' the C18 are available; some have a lot more drawings on them than others, but I shall continue adding drawings whenever I find them...

theframeblog.com/drawings-and...

The Christmas pudding is very sweet!

I wouldn't stand there too long if I were you, as the Roman dolphins you are so unkind about have nothing on this machine-age monster...!

It is extremely unnerving, I must say!

I think that this one is his daughter, Baba, whom we knew, on a sea horse - much more modernist than a squirrel (and much more terrifying, as well)...

Sotheby’s: Pauline Karpidas: a sale of surrealist works A sale to be held by Sotheby's, London, on 17 & 18 September 2025 Pauline Karpidas assembled an extraordinary collection of 20th-21st century paintings, sculpture and furniture, some of it commissioned directly from the artists or their agents. The house she shared with her husband, until his death, was an organized riot of pictures, pattern and colour, where no object seemed commonplace or mundane, and every individually extravagant piece fell into obedient relationship with the rest.

Sotheby’s: Pauline Karpidas: a sale of surrealist works

A sale to be held by Sotheby's, London, on 17 & 18 September 2025 Pauline Karpidas assembled an extraordinary collection of 20th-21st century paintings, sculpture and furniture, some of it commissioned directly from the artists or their…

Rigoberto A. González, “Refugees Crossing the Border Wall into South Texas” (2020)

Two conferences: November 2025 and February 2026 Following the successful virtual conference organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario in September 2024, with its fascinating and wide-ranging collection of papers, it is very satisfying to be able t…

Two more conference on frames and frame-related ornament hoving into view: Pastiglia Decoration in Kazan, Tartarstan, November 2025, & Frame Symposium 3 in Hobart, Tasmania, February 2026. Participate physically or online; call for papers now:
theframeblog.com/2025/08/18/t...

Two conferences: November 2025 and February 2026 Following the successful virtual conference organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario in September 2024, with its fascinating and wide-ranging collection of papers, it is very satisfying to be able to report the advent of two more conferences, in November this year and in February 2026. They are being held in geographically widely separated locations, as well - in Russia and Tasmania respectively - adding to the sense that frames (their history, manufacture and ornament) are becoming ever more recognized as an important element of study, both for the fine and decorative arts.

Two conferences: November 2025 and February 2026

Following the successful virtual conference organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario in September 2024, with its fascinating and wide-ranging collection of papers, it is very satisfying to be able to report the advent of two more conferences, in…

The framing dept at the National Gallery has replaced a 1970s gilt repro frame on Titian's Noli me Tangere with this stunning early 16th century Venetian parcel-gilt walnut frame, with a beautifully carved double guilloche cushion frieze & inner fluting which adds to the illusion of recession...

Reviving Rococo: an interview with master carver Bernhard Lankers by Mark Alexander As a freelance wood sculptor, Bernhard Lankers works in all areas of historical reconstruction and conservation, with a focus on interior decorative schemes and carved wooden frames. He has worked …

There are still woodcarvers of extraordinary and breath-taking skill in the world, and one of them is Bernard Lankers in Berlin -
@lankers-berlin.bsky.social‬ . He has helped to restore war-damaged woodwork and frames in the great palaces of Germany:
theframeblog.com/2018/07/08/r...

Whether or not you like Holman Hunt's work, you must admire his amazing inventiveness when it comes to frames. 50+ years' worth, & many gathered here to show what he wanted you to see...:
theframeblog.com/2025/07/20/h...

Holman Hunt’s frames A shorter version of this article was first published in The Pre-Raphaelite Society Review, 30th anniversary edition, vol. XXVI, no 3, autumn 2018 When we consider the revolutionary impact which the very young members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood must have had on contemporary academic art (the landscapes painted en plein air in brilliant greens[1], the lack of idealization of the human figure, the direct engagement with social problems, literary subjects depicted realistically, rather than romantically), there's an additional aspect of their work which has often been neglected - the idea of the work of art as a whole object completed by its frame.

Holman Hunt’s frames

A shorter version of this article was first published in The Pre-Raphaelite Society Review, 30th anniversary edition, vol. XXVI, no 3, autumn 2018 When we consider the revolutionary impact which the very young members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood must have had on…