Drawing lessons - illustrated lesson notes for teachers and students

How to frame your painting

7-5 FRAMES AND OTHER DECORATIONS

Historical developments

It is useful to understand the evolution of the picture frame. Frames evolved from painted decorations of

architraves and cornices that surrounded frescoes on walls and ceilings (as in the Sistine Chapel below), to

actual plaster and timber mouldings used when oil paintings became transportable. Today frames have become

‘stand alone’ items of mass production.

From the early renaissance architectural fashion has often determined the design of frames. Popular architrave,

cornice and skirting designs, often in miniature, formed the frame. If you desired to frame a Watteau painting, if

you are lucky enough to possess one or one you painted yourself in the Rococco style, then you should check

out the famous houses of the period noting all their architraves and cornices. The great decorators and designers

of past eras were usually universally consistent in their style. This approach can be just as valid today so look to

architraves and cornice when deciding what frame to use (see below).

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