The Frame Blog

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…

Bordercore: Why frames became the new frontier in contemporary art by Katie White This article was first published on Artnet (News) on 3 April 2025, and is republished here with the permission of the author. For a century, the frame was meant to disappear. Today, it’s a site of rebellion, narrative, and physical presence. Years ago, the artist Harry Gould Harvey IV came across a fallen black walnut tree in a friend’s yard.

Bordercore: Why frames became the new frontier in contemporary art

by Katie White This article was first published on Artnet (News) on 3 April 2025, and is republished here with the permission of the author. For a century, the frame was meant to disappear. Today, it’s a site of rebellion,…

Southend Pier Museum is looking for volunteers to help run it.

If you'd like help educate and inspire visitors, and can spare a few hours a week during the open season, the trustees would love to hear from you, at volunteer@southendpiermuseum.co.uk or on 01702 611214.

A carved duck figurine on display at the Swedish History Museum - 107535_HST

A carved duck figurine on display at the Swedish History Museum, photo by Christer Åhlin, SHM.

Spent a few hours at the Swedish History Museum recently, and among all the shiny viking objects on show, this simple carved duck from Birka stood out to me. Ascribed all kinds of sublime and symbolic roles, it may have simply been a kid's toy; a beloved, ordinary plaything without frills or fuss 🦆

Coming soon on The Frame Blog: ‘Drawings and designs for frames'...

theframeblog.com

An exercise machine for cats?

Drinking Horn in the Form of a Dragon, Cornelius Groß, 1560/70 (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien)

Well, I find it completely horrifying that this can still be happening. Whatever would George Orwell have said...?

Good luck with your campaign, and I wish you success 🙂

Tee hee! - you're very flattering 🙂

Ah... and I should be equally flexible, given that people called Lynn have to put up with Lyn, Lynne, and even (great heavens!) Lin...

Everybody in every government everywhere should be made to watch Pleasantville, which is a metaphor for most of life, bigotry, growing up, the knowledge of good & evil, & a lot of other things. Watch it for the book-burning scene, & weep for all those blinded people who would ever destroy a book.

Turban-charged PRIapUS...

Good grief... really! What is one to say? An ostrich's nether garments might only be an improvement... Could we sue him for Cultural Appropriation? (or in his case Inappropriation).

It's a v good selling line, & Romney is the perfect chap to provide images for her profile: with lamb, lambless, spinning, dancing with veils, &c. I'm afraid that Vivien Leigh would be left standing... (NB Are you sure that it's 'Vivien' with only 1 'n' & no 'e' on the end? This is the male form?)

I do quite like 'adapting' paintings... sometimes, I feel, slightly to their improvement, although possibly in this case both artists would be rightfully irked.🙁

She (V) does looks like her (E), but not so extremely naughty...

I'm afraid that I just Googled 'painting of lamb', and shamelessly stole some poor person's woolly offering, turned it back to front, and gave it to Emma.. Very shameful, but I spend my life stealing photos, and it's hard to stop.

But a pretty good morsel! My only nepotistical advantage was getting a book grant when I was doing English at Bedford College, which helped a great deal...🙂

Also: he was 'a vain and pompous womaniser, who deserted his wife (a daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Leinster), and in his will acknowledged six illegitimate children by four different mothers.' Very B Johnson, in fact, although even the latter prob wouldn't be painted in such a hat...

I haven't managed to find out about the frame; that it was prob a Coote family collection accessory. The website says: 'No other knight was ever immortalised in such a relaxed pose, or actually wearing the order’s [Knight of the Bath's] oversize hat with ostrich feathers.'

Well, when I was writing about inlaid wood on frames I was amazed to discover the mazzocchio, a faceted ring used like a fur cuff round the bottom of hats, so KC was obviously (fairly) on the button there; but it had nothing on a metre of ostrich's bottom, making B in heels about 8 feet tall...

Do you mean that she really did, and Romney didn't catch it, or that she did in that picture, when she oughtn't to have...?

...and I'm sure all his men were baahind him.🙂

Sadly we didn't have television till after I'd left school; it must have been a huge help to have Robert Hughes telling you all about it - but then look what there is now! No need ever to look at a book again...

How interesting that you did both art and architectural history - I think that would have finished me off! Mine was half fine art and half art history - ie you only had to be half as good at either; & I squeaked into the Courtauld by the boon of their liking non-art 1st degrees, so lucky all round 🙂

One Reynolds I am knocked over by is the wonderfully-named Charles Coote, Earl of Belmont, arrayed for - er, not quite sure what, exactly, but suspect that whatever it is he's not going to get to it by coach...