Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Here are a few frames I liked on a recent visit to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Last time I went a couple of the rooms were closed, and they now have a new Baroque gallery display. The post about my previous visit (here) complained about the lack of anti-reflective glass and this is still a nuisance on many of the paintings, and for me negatively effects the viewing of the paintings.

Before and After

Here are some before and after photos of this fantastic swept frame, a really exceptional example of a late 19th Century Louis XV Rococo revival frame, probably French made. The frame was from my stock, although the restoration work was done by another restorer/framer as it needed doing quickly and I could not fit it in my current heavy workload. In the photos the restored frame looks very bright, this is more to do with the light when I took the photos, in reality the frame looks like it is in excellent original condition with natural wear and antique patina, although the gilding has cleaned up very well too.

Big Swept Frame

A very ornate, 9" wide antique swept frame from the 19th Century.

Metal Leaf Swept

A swept frame that has been refinished in metal leaf and bronze powder with a dark finish. 

Refinishing a Swept Frame

Dark Artist Frames

I like all sorts of different art styles and painters, and really like it when artists take a real interest in framing their work. A favourite of mine is Cam Rackam who is known for album cover art, clothing design, and as well as painting some wonderfully dark and interesting paintings, he also hand crafts and adapts his frames. To me it looks like he uses a base Louis XV swept type frame then adds ornament and symbols to make unique frames for his art work. All images from Cam Rackam Instagram.

People Keep on Damaging Frames

Metal Leaf Swept

This vintage early 20th Century swept frame has been refinished, the process is pretty quick and simple. First a shellac (Zinsser BIN) primer coat is painted on, then a red/brown casein based paint, the high points are painted with acrylic gold size and metal leaf is put on all these areas. Next the remaining red areas are painted with a bronze powder paint, which is made from glue and bronze powder. The last stage is a pigmented button polish coat all over and then some wax.

Double Swept Frame

A Louis XV style double swept style frame from the late 19th or early 20th Century, this just needed some museum glass fitting and a tidy-up.

Bright Frame Gilding

During a recent visit to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery I saw a number of 19th Century paintings in frames that had been regilded. These frames were left really bright, which is quite unusual to see. This is perhaps how they would have looked when they were originally made, but we are so used to seeing gilding aged and darkened by dust that they really stood out. It was good to see almost all paintings glazed with 'museum glass', unlike Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery which has only a few.

Large Swept 19th Century Frame

Metal Leaf

A couple of 20th Century frames that have been gilded at the corners, centres, and rails with metal leaf. The top frame is the one from a few posts ago, which had four broken corners.

Four Broken Corners

An early 20th Century continental Louis XV style swept frame that has damage to all four corners. The frame has also been over painted.

Swept Frame Ornament

A continental (probably French) swept Louis XV style frame, from the 19th Century. Many European frames have the ornament cast in a white plaster type composition, whereas English frames used a browny yellow composition. The composition on English antique frames develops numerous cracks over time, but the white plaster compo does not crack in the same way, a simple if very broad way to identify English composition frames.

19th Century Swept Frame

A classic example of a Victorian Rococo revival of Louis XV swept frame styles.

Two Antique Swept Frame Repairs

Centre repair

The finished repair to a damaged swept frame centre ornament.

Another damaged frame

This Scottish made antique swept frame has various areas of damage to the composition ornament. I like the design of this frame, especially the large leaves at the centres which are more realistic/organic looking than many designs.